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Hello, this is Marko Vovk from www.housinvestitgations.com. The improper installation of Cultured Stone
and other fabricated stone products are resulting in major deterioration and mold problems all
over America. These fabricated products are absorbent and act as small sponges stuck together
to the exterior of many of our homes. If you are going to build a home with sponges, they
must be able to dry or drain. Hundreds of thousands of homes that have these fabricated
cladding installation contractors who installed these cladding system were not properly trained,
educated, or certified. Many of these homes lack the proper and necessary drainage systems.
All homes must properly drain the rain. In many cases, these absorbent fabricated stone
cladding material was simply stuck directly to the house wrap, wire mesh or to the wood
sheathing without a proper drainage space such as firing strips or a manufactured rain
screen product. These systems were also installed without a proper drainage plane such as properly
installed tarpaper or properly installed house wrap. Many homes did have the house wrap installed,
except it may now be defective and may no longer properly function as intended due to
it being exposed to sunlight for too long during construction, or not property taped
at house wrap joints, or had too many nails holes penetrations. These man made cladding
systems absorb water and get wet from; normal rain, overflow of dirty gutters, overflow
of gutters with leaf contraptions bought at home garden shows, sprinkler heads being too
close to the home that permit wetting of the siding, or poorly foundation grading conditions
which permit poor drainage of water. These man made manufactured products absorb water
and transfer moisture to the home's interior walls where the wood structure deteriorates,
permits mold growth and attracts wood boring insects.
It is truly amazing that the builders did not learn from their past similar installations
mistakes with the EIFS (Exterior Insulted Finish Systems) or synthetic Stucco failure
crises, which untimely resulted in many class action lawsuits and cost hundreds of millions
of dollars' worth of damage to our homes. So how can history repeat itself. When a child
becomes burned by a stove, the child learns that it is painful and the child stays away
from the stove. It seems that many builders keep touching the stove and keep being burned
and we the homeowners have to continue suffer for the builders mistakes.
Many of these moisture and mold problems are not visible. In addition, when these moisture
problems become visible, the builder is nowhere to be found or the builders warranty has expired.
Finally, your general homeowners insurance usually will not cover this type of moisture
event because it is not sudden such as a tornado or hailstorm and considered by insurance companies
to be a long-term moisture intrusion defect cause by poor initial poor installation.
Sometimes there are signs that the home has active deterioration from this type of moisture
intrusion. The home may experience musty odors from mold, rotting floors, leaking windows,
and leaking doors. Additionally, you may notice ant frass from carpenter ants, actual carpenter
ants, termites mud tunnels, actual termites or other insects. Finally, you may see rotted
structural joists, band joints or sill plates in the joist pocket above the basement drop
ceilings. Due to this new emerging man made cladding
problem, many of the EIFS moisture experts are turning into Expert Cultured Stone Moisture
Investigators. Tom GABA, who is one of areas Leading EIFS moisture investigator states
that new Cultured Stone complaints are slowly replacing the 90's EIFS synthetic stucco complaints.
The same problem that is happening with the stucco is going happen with the cultured stone.
Water is going to get behind it, it's not going to have an avenue to be elimated through
the exterior, drain to the exterior, and it is going to cause damage deterioration and
rot to the structure of the building. The product itself, is very good, it's the installaion
like anything else, wheatear that be wood brick vinyl siding or stucco, it's the installaion.
If it's not adhered to the manufacture standards, or someone deviates in flashings and caulking
recommendations, you are going to have failure. When inspectors perform Culture Stone Cladding
inspection they have probe and test the interior of the walls with surface and probe type calibrated
moisture meters. Do not rely on the dog and pony show cheaper thermal imaging inspections.
Many times, house conditions are not optimal and thermal imaging results can be inconclusive.
I have on numerous occupations used my own thermal imaging camera and have missed inner
wall deterioration areas because thermal imaging conditions were not optimal. The old fashion
method of drilling, puncturing, and moisture testing works best and provides valuable results.
If you are building a home or are, thinking about using of one of these man made products,
make sure your contractor, builder, developer or installer is educated, knowledgeable and
certified. Before you hire them, make sure your installer understands how to properly
install Cultured Stone or other man made products. If you have this product and you suspect deterioration
may be lingering, you should consider having it inspected and tested by moisture expert.
In most cases, full removal and replacement may be required. Thank you this is Marko Vovk
from www.houseinvestingations. Please subscribe to my channel and rate my video