how do you tell the difference
The easiest way is to tap on it, Stucco will sound hard, and EIFS will sound hollow due to its polystyrene foam core.
Regards
Gerry
And just by pushing on it EIFS has a little give stucco does not!
Gerry,
Isn’t that hard on the Knuckles? :ouch: Real stucco will scratsh the tops of your fingernails. EIFS coating won’t (Generally).
TG
But you can put an EIFs finish on a hardcoat stucco!
Pull a light fixture and look at the sides of the hole.
tap it lightly with the heel end of a screwdriver.
Ask it politely if it is EIFS or Stucco.
:sarcasm:
What Michael said. And if it refuses to talk, threaten to poke holes in it. :twisted:
With EIFS the control/expansion joints are tooled in groves and or made with backerrod and sealant! The ones in hard coat stucco most af the time are metal! So a little magnet might help you sometimes. But the magnet will not work on zinc. As far as I know the only metal with EIFS is the fastners.
They very seldom put control joints in EIFS in AZ.
How about casing bead or weepscreed with hard coat stucco?
And corner beads!?
With EIFS
There is no casing beads or corner beads in Arizona, the entire exterior walls of the building are wrapped with chicken wire and the stucco is applied up to the window frames and soffits…no beads, no control Joints, no backer rods…nippo, zilch, none.
The application is applied/installed like the picture in my previous post.
Except the wood sheathing behind the EIFS…only at shear walls.
Frame it…bottom weep flashing…vapor barrier…styrofoam…chicken wire…stucco.
EIFS
There is no chicken wire with EIFS! Is it a hybrid!
What would hold the stucco on the building?
With EIFS they glue or screew the foam on the wall. Then they put a very thin layer of base coat on and press the mesh that looks like screen wire into it.
IMO EIFS and stucco are not alike! I don’t know what kinda bill of goods they are selling in AZ. But the pics you just posted are not EIFS!
It looks to me like the foam is for insulation but it aint eifs! It is set up for hard coat stucco.
And there are plastic parts for hard coat stucco applications being used around the country.
They call it EIFS on this side of the Mississippi…which side are you on?
EXTERIOR INSULATED FINISHED SYSTEM.
They nail the foam to the exterior framing.
They attach the chicken wire with staples.
They apply two coats of stucco.
In kansas the same side of the mississippi that you are on! And here that is not eifs!
That might be eifs in mexico but not in the USA!
What do they call it there?