Over the years, I've had a number of companies as clients that make and install signs. Most of the signs are used for commercial applications (stores and hotels) and they are usually made of metal and plastic but occasionally they'll even make one out of EIFS. Either way, they sometimes ask me how to attach their signs to EIFS walls. If you've ever purchased a custom sign, they are not cheap, so it's not a dumb question. Here are some guidelines on how to deal with signs. These notes relate to design considerations, as well as installation issues.

First, you can go to New Orleans right now and have a good time, at least in the popular tourist areas, which look like nothing ever happened. But if you drive a little way from those restored areas, it's a different story. There are blocks and blocks of abandoned single-story houses and there are shopping areas that look fine, except a lot are not open. These buildings are in the areas that were flooded and stayed submerged.

Lately I’ve been working with some cast stone products and have found that product to be a good complement to EIFS in terms of dealing with the damage-susceptible edges of EIFS. This month’s column gives some examples of how cast stone can be used with EIFS.

This month’s column gives you a checklist of things to keep in mind if someone wants an alternate price or prefers the other cladding. This list will be handy if you are working with a designer or owner who needs guidance when making a switch.

For a change of pace, I’ve decided to periodically write about contracting and field issues, including case studies of interesting projects. The idea is to offer insights that will help readers deal with aspects of EIFS in their work.

Large rust stain streaks can be created by an almost invisibly small piece of iron, located in the EIFS finish. They can become amazingly big and very noticeable. In the midst of a huge blank EIFS wall, such streaks can really standout, which can result in irate building owners who want you to redo the whole façade. That level of repair is hardly necessary and the following information on rust streaks on EIFS can help you fix the problem and keep the owner calm.

There are two basic ways of terminating the edge of an EIFS. One is by using the EIFS materials themselves, and the other is using some type of non-EIFS trim product, such as preformed plastic or metal pieces.

An EIFS finish coat is a textured, paint-like material. It’s usually made with acrylic resins or a blend of acrylic resins and other resins, such as silicones. The hardness of the coating and its textured surface make it susceptible to getting dirty.

In multi-story wood frame residential construction, the various floor levels are usually constructed as a series of platforms, one at a time, on top of each other. The horizontal framing at the floor line has its grain running parallel to the ground.

This is the first of a two-part series about common EIFS questions. My Web site www.eifs.com generates a lot of e-mail and phone inquiries. Usually they are basic questions from people looking to learn more about EIFS. Over the last 30 years of working with EIFS I’ve seen or heard of almost anything that can be done with EIFS.

The origin of the EIFS with drainage goes back to the 1990s. The idea of adding drainage came about due to a rash of water intrusion problems on houses in the southeast. Water had gotten behind the EIFS and ruined the supporting wood structure, causing a flurry of lawsuits and repairs, and sparking the interest of building code officials.

The recent devastating earthquake in Haiti has focused attention on many things about that country, including politics, economics, its history and culture, and many other poignant topics, not the least of which is the safety and design of buildings there. 

In North America, EIFS is pretty much a single type of design, namely expanded polystyrene insulation adhesively attached to the supporting wall, and a thin, synthetic, two-layer, glass fiber mesh-reinforced coating system. 

If you spend any time working with specifiers, end-users, designers and contractors who are involved with EIFS, you’ll find out right away that the environmental friendliness (“eco-friendliness”) of EIFS is a hot topic.

One of the most popular design features of EIFS is its ability to mimic other materials. This includes being a stone, concrete or stucco look-alike. This feature of EIFS is widely used for many reasons, including its attractive appearance, light weight and low cost.

Firestopping is an especially important topic for EIFS, due to the system’s unique multi-layered form of cladding construction. 

When I do technical seminars about EIFS, one of the most frequent questions is, “Should I use adhesives or mechanical fasteners (screws plus washers), or even both, to attach the foam insulation to the wall?” The answer depends on a number of factors, and sometimes you have no choice about which to use. 

There is work underway to develop a standardized protocol for inspecting EIFS as it is being installed. This work is being done by the ASTM technical society. 

I often get calls from people wanting to “beef up” the performance of their EIFS walls. There are some things you can do to improve performance and this month’s column has a potpourri of strategies for common problems.

Expanded polystyrene insulation and polyisocyanurate foam polyiso are the two main insulation types used in EIFS in North America. Overseas, many other types of insulation are used to make EIFS, such a mineral wool and “glass foam.”

Because EIFS are a jointless type of wall cladding that can be installed over a huge wall area without joints at all, it’s clear that the only way for water to get behind the EIFS is somewhere at the edge of the EIFS. This penetration is most often at windows, openings and flashings.

In EIFS, water resistive barriers are a layer between the EIFS substrate and the EIFS insulation. They are most commonly used in EIFS with drainage wall assemblies. They are an additional layer within the wall cladding system and present some unique issues that are worth knowing about. Here are some of the issues.

In the May column “Keep it Dry,” I talked about issues to be dealt with when using EIFS that incorporate a water resistive barrier. WRBs are most often used in the increasingly common EIFS with drainage. Most of the discussion in that article was about various design aspects.

There are lots of small details and design features about EIFS that can help create a better-completed EIFS project. This month’s column is a list of many known-and not-so-well-known-design features that you should be aware of.

Everyone’s heard of Stonehenge in England-the weird stone blocks in the middle of a field. But who has heard of Foamhenge in Virginia? It is a full size replica of the real Stonehenge made of EIFS. Who could dream up a cooler name?

No doubt you are aware that the quality of EIFS is very dependent on the contractor. One way to ensure quality is to monitor the process of installing the EIFS as it is being installed.

Every American I know wants to visit Australia. It’s sometimes called “The Land of Milk and Honey” and it is. Next to Canada, Australia is more like the U.S. than any other country I can think of.

EIFS is like any other building material in the sense that it is well-suited for some uses and not for others. This column is a compilation of my thoughts about where EIFS works well and where it does not, including some unusual specialty uses.

When EIFS was first introduced to the North American market, there were a lot of questions about its strength.

The latest Green Globes and LEED green building rating systems have introduced new building materials credits.

Fifty one. That’s how many light bulbs I have in my house, I know because I counted them.

Designing exterior wall assemblies that satisfy both energy and building code requirements is a challenge.

In December of this year, more than 190 nations will gather in Paris to negotiate a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, laying the foundation to save the planet from what many believe will be a catastrophic and irreversible change in the Earth’s climate.

The findings come from Third Sector’s inaugural Charity Employer Index

As a subsidiary of ASSA ABLOY, HID Global follows its policy on minimizing its carbon footprint and helping to stimulate renewable energy markets. HID Global is dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of its operations through continuous concentration on Genuine HID™ products; how they are designed, how they are built, and how they are used.

The all-in-one instrument optimizes lab space. It features a built-in thermostat, and a PC with MetaBridge software and touchscreen. Its upward-lifting stretching column reduces instrument depth for flexible lab placement and prevents blockage of storage spaces or walkways.

TOLI's Mature commercial sheet flooring from CBC Flooring offers architects and designers a beautiful and sustainable flooring product for healthcare, university and retail environments.

Shaw Floors’ divisions Tuftex Carpets of California and Anderson Hardwood have launched the Color Coordinates display system exclusively for Shaw Design Center retailers.

Taylor has launched Meta-Tec MS-Plus Resilient MBA, a 100% solids solvent- & isocyanate-free one-component modified silane polymer moisture barrier adhesive for resilient flooring.

Armstrong Commercial Flooring has been awarded NSF/ANSI 332 Gold Level certification for its Linoleum product line from NSF International.

Karastan’s new Bellingham Collection delivers the warmth and durability of eco-friendly wool in a diverse selection of transitional and traditional styles.

Rock, a colorful new quartzite recreation in glazed porcelain, uses HD Technology for a natural effect.

Metallika from Surfaces brings “the beauty of pure aluminum, transformed in sophisticated patterns and color combinations with stone and glass.”

Karndean Design flooring has expanded its premium Art Select Woods collection by adding eleven new skillfully-crafted designs that replicate the beauty of natural timber.

Viridian Reclaimed Wood introduces a new line of engineered reclaimed hardwood flooring in four different species, according to Viridian co-owner Joe Mitchoff.

The inherent beauty of stone is timeless, and Daltile brings that beauty to life with its new Natural Stone and Manufactured Stone collections and line extensions. 

Tile Redinow offers Redi Trench, an incredibly exciting marriage of design and function for the commercial construction sector, in particular for the hospitality industry.

The Carpet and Rug Institute's (CRI) annual meeting in Dalton, Georgia, highlighted an industry balancing success with new challenges, from global growth to mounting regulations.

Electrolit's planned 600,000-sq.-ft. greenfield project is slated to open in early 2026.

This lecture is the inaugural Berkeley Distinguished Lecture in the Social Sciences (formerly the Moses Memorial Lectures) About this lecture In this lecture, Ted Miguel will present findings from a development economics research project based on a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Kenya that he and collaborators have been conducting since 2014. He will start by discussing the rise of experimental methods and open science tools in economics research. Ted will then focus on new results from the Kenyan RCT that investigates the impact of cash transfers on infant mortality, leveraging a unique large-scale census of local households’ birth histories. The findings provide novel evidence on the broader impacts of cash transfers on the health and wellbeing of a poor rural population, and illustrate the value of the experimental approach in development economics for public policy.About Edward Miguel Edward (Ted) Miguel is Distinguished Professor of Economics, the Oxfam Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, & Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned S.B. degrees in both Economics and Mathematics from MIT, received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. Ted’s main research focus is African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; interactions between health, education, environment, and productivity for the poor; and methods for transparency in social science research. He has published over 120 articles and chapters in leading academic journals and collected volumes. Prof. Miguel was elected as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020, and awarded the Econometric Society Frisch Medal in 2024.