Styrofoam facades?
Can anyone weigh in on something I’ve taken recent notice of and am concerned about… Two townhouses undergoing renovation and one new multiple story apartment building in my neighborhood have used what looks like typical styrofoam (white, not blue, which I understand is construction grade) on the facades underneath the stucco.
Can anyone weigh in on something I’ve taken recent notice of and am concerned about… Two townhouses undergoing renovation and one new multiple story apartment building in my neighborhood have used what looks like typical styrofoam (white, not blue, which I understand is construction grade) on the facades underneath the stucco. At one site I watched as a man cut the styrofoam into the decorative lintels, whacking off large parts and shaving down little bits to achieve the shape he wanted. Then the styrofoam was attached to the building and covered with stucco. The end result looks great, but I was shocked by the method and concerned on several fronts. Is styrofoam durable, or will these homes soon look shabby if the materials don’t hold up. Is this another example of cutting corners on materials and workmanship, decreasing property value in the long term? And finally, isn’t this an environmental no-no? I’ve heard styrofoam shouldn’t be cut or broken for environmental concerns, but I don’t have any info to back up that lore. Can anyone weigh in?
They use this stuff all over the South Slope, 16th Street will offer you a few more badly executed examples. It has been used in South Carolina for 20 years. It is not meant for wood framed buildings. Imagine sealing a piece of wood in a plastic bag. Great protection until the bag leaks and then fills with water without anyway for it to evaporate out. The wood rots. Everything said by the previous posters is correct. This product is inferior for new masonry or steel frame construction and down right destructive when used by “old house” homeowners looking for a quick remuddle job.
A “luxury” condo building on the corner of Powers & Manhattan used tons of this stuff and tons of little white specks of styrofoam flew around the air for weeks. It covered people’s cars, plants, trees, the sidewalk. It seriously looked like it was snowing. Isn’t this pollution? How is it legal to use a material that can fly all over the neighborhood?
EIFS is a fairly cheap and nasty system and has been the subject of many lawsuits down south… Normally its problems are connected to water penetration from poor flashing around windows, doors, etc. Often this system relies on sealant/caulking as the only protection from water penetration and when the sealant inevitably fails water starts coming inside. But it is cheap and that is why you see it being used more and more.
Also this material is flimsy and shouldn’t be used on a ground floor as one good smack would take a chunk out of your house. Accidentally run your weed wacker next to the facade and chunks will fly!
Incidentally construction companies seem to make no effort to contain all of the styrofoam crap flying off their buildings when they sand down and trim the foam – In my neighborhood on the corner of Bayard and Lorimer they put this stuff on one of the Karl Fischer buildings (old mattress factory) there were huge amounts of this styrofoam crap flying all over the neighborhood, into MacCarren Park, etc. Someone should have nailed them for this!
I believe this is often used under stucco and appears to be normal styrofoam but is not..a product is only as good as its installer..(“kudos” to 1:14)
Environmentally?..I do not believe the majority of building constructors purposely use any products that are enviornmentally safe..First they go by minimum code then they go by lowest price(unless otherwise told or compensated for)..this almost automatically eliminates the pricier GREEN building products that do exist..
TANGENT: Sadly solar panels are not yet minimum code here in the U.S, thus another product that should be and could be rightfully so considered a bare minimum standard.
Look at the new bldg on corner of Atlantic and Bond. (Marathon Bank location) They’ve used this stuff and you can punch a hole thru it with a pencil. It’s terrible.
It is called EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finish System). Its used on office buildings in the Midwest plenty. The layperson can’t tell if its styrofoam, but it shouldn’t perform any less efficiently. It leaks because it was poorly constructed not simply because it is made of styrofoam. It is highly unfortunate that it is used in New York at all.
They gave a new construction house on my block this treatment and now it’s back on the market after a year because according to the people who bought it, it has massive leaks in the bay windows where the styrofoam was used. The sad part is that these people paid a lot of money for the house and certainly had no idea it was made of styrofoam.Once the stucco is on, how do you tell???