Over the years, the construction industry has been introduced to various new materials that their manufacturers claim will revolutionize the industry. Many have failed to pass the test of time, and some have become stigmatized.
Asbestos, for example, was popular as siding, or skin, for residential construction, as well as insulating ductwork. After years of use in millions of houses, it was learned that asbestos can be deadly. Consequently, any house with asbestos, and there are fewer and fewer, is less desirable than a home that is asbestos free.
One product that has become stigmatized in the residential real estate market is a synthetic stucco product. The leading manufacturer of this material is Dryvit, and as was the case with Coke, Frigidaire and even Kodak in olden times, the material became known as Dryvit.
Also known by an acronym, EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finishing System), this system was introduced to North America in the 1960s and was widely used in commercial construction and then to residential construction in the 1980s. It took the country by storm. EIFS had the appearance of stucco, now referred to as “true stucco” in order to distance itself from synthetic stucco. Aesthetically, EIFS was lauded as being superior to true stucco since it does not crack, as stucco does, and is not prone to the staining that is often found in true stucco construction.
In the 1980s, problems with EIFS in the residential construction world began to surface, and lawsuits were abundant. However, most of the problems were related to moisture and to the homeowners’ contention that the product did not allow moisture to escape as well as other cladding. Dryvit and other EIFS manufacturers argued that the problems were with architectural design, construction and craftsmanship. After all, it had worked for billions of dollars of construction on the commercial side. In most cases, the EIFS manufactures prevailed.
Here in Nashville, the product is definitely unappreciated on the residential side, leaving those in commercial real estate perplexed. On one occasion, I was substituting for a fellow agent whose client was the daughter of one of the most successful commercial contractors in the world. I was a bit intimidated, as he knew more about construction than I could ever learn.
The other agent had scheduled the showings, and we were visiting condominiums in the pre-high rise days. The second showing was an EIFS development. Rather than have the contractor think I was unaware of the issues that had plagued EIFS, I commented that this unit was EIFS and that there had been problems associated with the product in other parts of the country.
He scolded me for my lack of knowledge, telling me that he had been using EIFS for decades in hospitals all over the world in all climates with no failure. He agreed with the manufacturers in their contention that the residential contractors were not applying the finish correctly.
Rockwell Jiroch of Rockwell Construction has made a career from the EIFS situation. He, too, feels the product is as good as any if properly applied and maintained.
There was a neighborhood in North Carolina that started an EIFS class action suit after a number of windows had fallen from the houses featuring EIFS construction. The builder blamed EIFS and discontinued using it. According to the late Steve Wachtler, then president of Dryvit International, the next year, the windows began to fall from the brick houses of this builder. It was not the EIFS, but the builder.
Richard Courtney is a residential real estate broker with Pilkerton Realtors and the author of Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles and can be reached at [email protected]