No doubt you are aware that the quality of EIFS is very dependent on the contractor. One way to ensure quality is to monitor the process of installing the EIFS as it is being installed. The inspector should not be the EIFS contractor, but an independent third party-usually someone that reports to the building owner.

There is work underway by ASTM to develop inspection criteria for installing EIFS. The criteria include:
  • Substrate
  • Attachment of foam to substrate
  • Application of basecoat
  • Application of finish coating
  • Details of how the edge of the EIFS is terminated
The time-frame for completion of this document is roughly within the next year. Once approved, you’ll likely see it in specifications for EIFS projects and thus it could affect your work on EIFS projects.

If you’d like to have your say in this inspection criteria, you can take part via ASTM’s committee E6.58 onEIFS Performance, and vote and comment on what is being proposed. The current version of this proposed new standard can be found on ASTM’s Web site,www.astm.organd will be discussed at ASTM's next EIFS meeting (open to the public) in Tampa, Fla., at the beginning of November. -