what are the plus and minus of Stucco?
jhazel3
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Hi all.
I am trying to decide on what to side my house with. It is made out of polysteel foam forms. ICF’s I like the look of stucco but have heard of problems with it. Any comments would be appreciated. I live in Michigan if that makes any difference
Jim III
ps my other to options are vynil or fibercement board
Replies
"I like the look of stucco, but have heard problems with it..."
Ok. I'll bite. What problems have you been hearing? Also, what type of stucco you talking about...acrylic (dryvit) or regular(cement based)?
Davo
There are several options, real cement based stucco, acrylic dryvit type synthetic stucco, and combination stucco. We used the acrylic dryvit for over 10 years, in the northern freeze/thaw zone with no problem. The key was attention to detail, especially around windows and at the top edge which was usually at the soffit line.
However, the lawyers have made it almost impossible to chance using pure dryvit systems in many areas, whether there is an actual problem or not. We have switched to using a combination formula. Our plastering sub is mixing the acrylic base with conventional cement stucco. It gives the conventional stucco some flexibility, color options, and eliminates the need of so many expansion joints plus provides a defense to lawyers looking for an easy target.
We've used this combo approach for several years and feel it is superior in quality to either pure stucco or synthetic stucco. Again the devil's in the details.