SYNTHETIC STUCCO'S NATURAL FOE - The Washington Post

On a quiet street in a well-off Potomac neighborhood, Steven Alloy is trying to prevent a nightmare.

Alloy is president of Stanley Martin Cos., one of the region's largest builders of upscale houses. Increasingly over the past few years, his customers have chosen homes built with synthetic stucco siding, a product that allows owners to break out of the Washington-suburban-brick-colonial rut.

"In the mid-Nineties, it just took off in housing because of the look," Alloy said.

As he drives through the Potomac Regency neighborhood, where his firm has been building homes since 1994, Alloy points out the muted rainbow of colors that synthetic stucco can come in, and the complex architectural details that are impossible to render in brick. These houses also are more energy-efficient than their traditional brick neighbors, and a bit less expensive.

Unfortunately, they can leak, causing underlying wood to quickly rot, and that can turn into disaster for a homeowner.

The building industry first realized there was a problem with synthetic stucco in 1994 and 1995, when hundreds of almost-new houses in North Carolina turned out to have serious water damage. That situation has turned into a morass of lawsuits. In one that's going on right now, manufacturers, builders and installers are all blaming each other. The trial began in early October, and testimony is expected to last until December.

Now industry specialists and builders such as Alloy are recognizing that problems with this siding weren't a geographic freak. In almost any region where the systems have been used, there are possible problems.

"The problem is not that much worse here; it's that much more discovered," said Allen Golden, assistant director of inspections for New Hanover County, N.C., where hundreds of damaged houses were first found. The county now effectively prohibits synthetic stucco.

"I'm finding the same things up in Fairfax that we found here, and just as extensive," said Leroy Bryant, whose inspection company, Stonecastle Group Inc., specializes in synthetic stucco homes. He is based in North Carolina but has an office in Oakton. Of three Fairfax County homes he recently inspected, he said, two had damage.

Synthetic stucco is not as widely used in this region as it is farther south. NVR Inc., the area's largest home builder, has never used it except in one demonstration home, said Larry Bassett, director of architectural services. "We're just a little leery of it right now," he said.

But a drive through newer neighborhoods of large homes in Northern Virginia or suburban Maryland shows it is not uncommon.

After studying the material as part of a Fairfax advisory committee, Alloy decided to take on the problem. His company went back and inspected all its synthetic stucco homes for water problems. It found damage in a number of them, and is fixing it for free. For instance, in Potomac last week a Stanley Martin crew was replacing plywood panels that were damaged after water became trapped under the siding of one house, and was adding flashing and caulking.

Alloy said he wishes that other builders and homeowners would face up to the situation, too. "It's going to be a fiasco if people just walk away and let it get worse until it's like what happened in North Carolina," he said. "It's just a bunch of lawyers fighting it out, and that's not good for anybody."

Speaking about the house his crew was repairing in Potomac, he said, "This house, where we had moisture leaks and intrusion, is going to cost me a few thousand to fix. That's a very small part of the cost of the house."

In the industry, synthetic stucco is usually referred to as EIFS, for Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems. The systems, long used for such commercial buildings as shopping centers, have been used on homes for about a decade, most often on expensive houses.

Unlike traditional stucco, a mixture of cement and sand that is troweled onto a home, synthetic stucco is applied in layers. Foam insulation board is attached to the house's plywood or gypsum sheathing with an adhesive. Then a cement-based base coat is spread on the board, and fiberglass mesh is embedded in it. Finally, a decorative finish coat is spread on top.

The problem arises with a system known as barrier EIFS, which is supposed to be watertight. But when water does penetrate, usually around windows or where the walls join the roof, there's no way for it to escape. Wooden sheathing or structural wood can become saturated and rot, often within months.

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In response to the problems with barrier EIFS, manufacturers have introduced a new type of synthetic stucco, called drainable or water-managed EIFS. These products are designed so that water that gets behind the surface has a way to drain out, as with more traditional materials, such as brick or aluminum siding. The mechanics of damage to synthetic stucco homes is well-understood, but who to blame is less clear.

Alloy, like many builders, blames leaks on less-than-perfect installation, a problem that gets even worse when poorly trained crews apply EIFS.

"Either the installers didn't do a flawless job, or the homeowners aren't doing any maintenance," he said.

But even perfectly installed barrier EIFS can leak, according to Tom Kenney, director of laboratory services at the National Association of Home Builders Research Center in Upper Marlboro.

Others say installation has little to do with water damage. "The problem is that the product design concept is inherently flawed, period," said Golden, the New Hanover County inspector.

But experts seem to agree on how to minimize problems on an EIFS-clad house: Inspect it, repair it and maintain it.

The accepted recommendations on what to do about synthetic stucco come from the EIFS Review Committee, a multi-disciplinary group formed after the North Carolina problems were discovered. The committee has studied and tested both the material and repairs to it.

First determine whether your house is clad in EIFS and what kind it is, Kenney said. The builder may be able to to tell you, he said. You can tell synthetic stucco from traditional stucco by removing an exterior light fixture or electric outlet and looking for the edge of the foam or mesh layers.

Then you need an inspection to determine whether there's a water problem. Damage may not be visible, because it starts between the layers of the siding and because water flow is tricky, with damage often showing up far from the original leak.

This is a job for specialists who have been trained in water intrusion. Kenney and the EIFS Review Committee warn against inspectors who simply do a visual check to make sure that the EIFS has been applied in accordance with manufacturer's specifications. A proper inspection will encompass two phases: a check with a scanning-type meter to determine relative moisture content in likely problem areas and a check with a probe-type meter that makes small holes in the exterior.

Bryant of Stonecastle Group said an inspection of a 4,000-square-foot home takes six or seven hours and costs about $800.

Repairs can involve replacing damaged wood as well as adding caulking and flashing and providing for future drainage.

"The philosophy is that if you stop the leak, the wood will dry out," Kenney said.

Again, these repairs should be handled by experienced contractors to avoid causing new mistakes.

"Costs can vary widely depending on the extent and nature of the problem, from hundreds of dollars for sealant repairs to tens of thousands of dollars for complete EIFS removal and replacement," according to a technical bulletin distributed by the NAHB Research Center.

After repairs are done, there should be a follow-up inspection in six months. Afterward, homeowners may want to have re-inspections as often as every year. Even if the first inspection finds no problems, "You might want to have it done every couple of years just to be on the safe side," Kenney said.

Whether or not an inspection finds problems, homeowners have to be careful about EIFS upkeep.

But Bryant is skeptical about viewing repairs as an easy and foolproof fix. He said he has seen instances in which, even after repairs, rotting began again in eight to 12 months.

"There's no proven fix for any of it yet," he said. "The best you can do is caulk every nook, crack and cranny you can caulk, and maintain it." CAPTION: Contractor Kevin Young examines a chimney on a home in Potomac where Stanley Martin Cos. is repairing synthetic stucco that suffered extensive water damage. ec CAPTION: A workman for Stanley Martin repairs a damaged joint at a Potomac home surfaced in synthetic stucco. ec

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