Exterior Cladding Inspection - Part II
In last week’s posting, we covered the basics of exterior cladding dealing specifically with vinyl siding. However; as a Cedarglen customer you may have a stucco finish or fibre cement exterior cladding. Also, most of our homes have some component of cultured stone cladding. These exterior cladding types are often architectural requirements from different communities that have been set by the developers and city planners.
Stucco is required in some of our communities and is a product that is durable and easy to maintain. These contractors have a long-standing relationship with Cedarglen Homes and like our vinyl installers, follow the standard exterior cladding practice. There are several differences with the stucco installation. They will then install a weather-resistant membrane around the exterior of the home in a manner similar to the vinyl siding contractor. Again, it is installed in a shingle-lap fashion tying into the paper details left before them by the other trades as explained in the previous two blog posts. The weather-resistant membrane is a different product specifically designed for stucco homes and two layers are installed, which is specific for best practice for stucco cladding. At the time the paper is installed, a wire mesh is also installed that is necessary for stucco to adhere to the wall. Then stucco is installed in a two coat process. The first coat, often called the “scratch coat”, is installed and must dry for a few days until the final coat is installed. One of the main differences of stucco installation is that it is weather dependent. Stucco contractors will only install when the temperature is warm enough to have the stucco cure properly. This is why your home may sit during the winter months with paper and wire installed, waiting for warmer temperatures. They do install battens in a similar manner to vinyl siding crews if they use the same batten, but if they use a stucco batten they will install on top of the first stucco coat.
Fibre Cement exterior cladding is a product that is becoming more popular and is one of the most durable products on the market today. Installation of this product is very similar to vinyl siding and follows the same basic process of paper, flashing and caulking.
Cultured stone is added to most of our houses to add some detail and differentiate the homes. Our drafting designers will create different options and then the developer will approve the designs. Cultured stone is added in a manner similar to the stucco with a paper and wire layer added in the normal process build of the home followed by the cultured stone layer. Similar to stucco, the cultured stone layer installation is dependent on the outside temperatures. Our contractors and our inspections will pay special attention to the shingle-lap detail and flashing where the stone meets other exterior cladding components. Our engineers are required by code to check installation process of the cultured stone.
Similar to vinyl siding our Site Supervisors will perform an inspection after installation of all exterior cladding.