Jobs in progress
                 updated August 21, 2011
   
                            Over 12 years of jobs in progress, update #119 !  
             
Jobs in progress has undergone a huge makeover. I edited nearly 400 pages, to make them easier to navigate. Here, you will find a wealth of informaton on the world's oldest builing trade, plaster, both interior plaster, and exterior cement plaster, also known as stucco. Please check it out. A table of contents is forthcoming, like I did on the Stucco News.

EIFS replaced with REAL stucco
McLean, VA

EIFS house, waiting to be peeled. More..	EIFS easily stripped off. More..
ABOVE: Snow on the roof in August ? White foam is everywhere. How we tore off the dryvit. ) RIGHT: Chimneys are riddled with bird holes. These are sparrows. More here..
Typical of the rot on windows on EIFS houses. The foam traps water against the wall. Also these windows had no flashing above the windows. This was partially due to neglect; the EIFS industry had the audacity to claim that their product was so waterproof, flashing wasn't needed.	EIFS is a plastic cloth embedded with an adhesive mixed with Portland cement, then a finish coat. The finish coat is a highly toxic acrylic paint, usually mixed with plastic "sand". Here the plastic cloth was put directly on the concrete, instead of foam board.

Stucco house in Chevy Chase, MD
for Banks Development

The windows have a black flashing put on the framing before the windows were set. This is good insurance there will never be rot. More details and a video here..	A view of our flashing over the window head. What ? Stucco wrap ? There is a code in Montgomery County requiring stucco wrap, which is why I may never do any work here again. We covered the stucco wrap with a layer of tar paper. You may have seen my stucco wrap test here.
Above: Flashing over water table is overlapped with tar paper and self furring metal lath. Above Right: Typical of our jobs is a "wash", or a curve at the bottom. This adds a barrier against water infiltration, and looks cool. VIDEOS ! : Video A video on how we put on our version of a mission finish.    -------->

Finestone aggregated stucco
Annandale, VA

Old finestone  is falling off due to years of water infiltration. The culprit here is the fact the top is flat, allowing water to soak through. More here..	The top had been re coated with some synthetic stuff which looked like a water sieve. It probably did more harm than good. More here.
ABOVE: New brown coat is rodded off. ABOVE RIGHT: A tool we made out of plastic trim to run the round tops. The rounded tops should shed water and protect our work for years to come. RIGHT: Finish is applied and rocks are thrown in. Finestone was used a lot in the 1960's here in northern Virginia and the Washington, DC area. More here.