Nowadays, stucco is a very fashionable and extremely popular building material. Textures and patterns are countless in most cases and talents and skills of the applicator are the only restraint. The durability and beauty of the product was discovered thousands of years ago and time has simply allowed to improve the components, techniques and methods of application.

Today stucco is available in two basic forms: cement and synthetic. Cement stucco is simply a mixture of cement, sand and lime that has been in use for thousands of years. When cement stucco dries it is very hard and durable. In addition, cement stucco is a breathable material and when it gets wet or saturated, it allows the trapped water vapor to escape to the exterior, even if painted.

Synthetic stucco, or Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS), appeared in the second half of the twentieth century. This product is actually a combination of stucco material and insulation system that proved to be super durable and waterproof. During the application process a building is first covered with foam insulation sheets and then with one or two thin coat layer of synthetic stucco. The use of foam allows to improve the building’s insulation. In addition, the foam can be layered and sculpted to produce interesting shapes and designs.

However, the manufacturers seemed to have overestimated synthetic stucco and ignored the lessons learned by the cement stucco industry specialists. They knew that if you fail to manage and re-channel the water back to the surface, there could be serious damage to the wood framing systems behind the stucco finish and learned how to control water absorption into their systems by using tar paper and metal flashings. Unfortunately, synthetic stucco specialists overlooked these details. As a result there has been much public attention to discoveries with rot problems in conjunction with synthetic stucco houses. The EIFS materials turned out to work too well and don’t allow water to easily escape. Consequently, if water enters the system around a window, door, flashing and etc. it can begin to damage the structure from the inside out.

The results of the study conducted not too long ago prompted how to react to the deficiencies of the first EIFS products and modify them. Thanks to the study the manufacturers started to promote the use of a breathable acrylic compound, cement board and insulation board as a substrate, a water barrier paper and metal flashings as parts of EIFS products.

On the whole stucco is an outstanding material. If you have it installed correctly, so that water can get out before it starts damaging the wood framing of your home, it will definitely very likely outlive you. The major aspect is to choose which material suits your tastes and expectations perfectly.