UP
NORTH
National EIFS Standard in the Works
By Don Procter
An industry performance standard for exterior insulation
and finish systems, which will be included in Canada
s National Building Code, is a step closer to reality.
To cover materials and application, the all-encompassing
standard is expected to dramatically boost EIFS credibility
Canada-wide. Guido Rapone, CEO of Toronto-based EIFS
manufacturer Durabond Products Limited, is on the
standing committee that is developing the national
standard that is expected to get Underwriters Laboratory
of Canada approval within six to 12 months. “It will
be a document that puts everyone s mind at ease that
the materials and applications are correct and they
meet a certain level performance, Rapone says.
Rapone believes the standard, known as Can/ULC S716,
will be unique in North America. It will require designers,
applicators, manufacturers and inspectors to play
by the same rules.
Coming to consensus on the makeup of the standard
hasn t been easy. To date there s been
more than two years of meetings among industry professionals
to sort out what will be in and what will be excluded.
Research and development efforts will help to identify
a benchmark for acceptable performance.
The standard will be the cornerstone of the EIFS Council
of Canada s quality assurance program, which
is just up and running. It s an excellent
document that deals with all the substrates, all the
performance requirements of the EIF system, and it
addresses classifications, independent product performance
to overall system performance for use over any substrate,
Rapone explains. The ULC committee developing the
standard is comprised of EIFS manufactures, building
code officials, suppliers, R&D scientists and
EIFS consultants.
On another front, the Canadian Construction Materials
Centre is in the final stages of preparing an evaluation
guide for wood substrates. Currently, the CCMC guide
only evaluates steel stud and exterior gypsum applications.
The new guide will serve as a reference for municipal
building departments to help them identify different
EIF systems, their components and how they can be
applied to wood substrates for small buildings.
The document will explain how EIF systems can be applied
in residential construction. Some Southern Ontario
municipalities won t allow the use of EIFS in
residential. In one municipality building officials
have indicated that EIFS can t be applied to
a wood substrate unless a product such as DensGlass
or another gypsum or cement fiberboard product is
applied to the substrate first.
Having EIFS included
in a guide for wood substrates will represent a significant
boom to the industry. It ll give comfort-give
a means for the building officials to either accept
or reject a particular EIFS product based on its performance
over a wood substrate, Rapone notes. There
have been misunderstandings in some
building departments about EIFS as a result of bad
press on the West Coast of Canada, Vancouver in particular,
where moisture infiltration has resulted in extensive
damage to many buildings, some of which were clad
in EIFS.
CCMC allows new technologies to the market by evaluating
them to determine whether they meet the intent of
applicable building codes, with technical guide playing
a role in this evaluation process. The technical guide
outlines the performance criteria the product must
meet and the testing procedures that must be followed.
The new guide will be provided to the manufacturer,
which will be responsible for having the tests conducted
in a laboratory recognized by CCMC. Once testing is
completed, CCMC reviews the test results. If the product
complies with the technical guide requirements, CCMC
issues an evaluation report that includes detailed
test results, a full description of the product, and
its use and limitations. The evaluation report is
then copyrighted.
Courtesy
of EIFS Alliance