Stucco Siding and EIFS

JTI Siding brings character and beauty to every home with our exterior stucco siding. We transform ordinary homes into the extraordinary by creating a personalized exterior design to fit your taste, style, color and texture preferences. We guarantee our stucco siding to last for years to come by using the best materials and precise mixtures.

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JTI Siding is one of the premier siding contractors in the following areas: Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, and Springdale. We provide the highest quality siding at the the best possible price! If you’re looking for value for your money, JTI Siding is the contractor for you.

What is Stucco?

Stucco is a manufactured siding product that we mix right on site. It uses natural compounds to create a unique look. Stucco ingredients are made up of lime, silica sand, and white cement, sometimes referred to as Portland cement.

Stucco has been around since the 1850s in its modern form, but it has been around in early forms since the ancient Greeks. Traditionally, it was used for walls and art in the form of murals. Today, it is most often used as a siding material on the outside of your home. As a siding material, it has many good qualities that are worth considering.

The stucco process includes laying down several coats of a sand and lime mixture wetting them between each coat, and then applying a final color coat to your wall. When we manufacture the stucco on site, it has the consistency of a thick cake icing. It is usually applied to surfaces that are scored or scratched, like concrete or masonry. We add support with a metal lath before stucco is applied. Then, the stucco is given time to cure and dry. Depending on the look you’re going for, we may apply stucco with a trowel to ensure the walls are completely smooth, or we may add additional coats of stucco to create different textures or a worn look. Sometimes we spray on the layers of stucco with special equipment. Moldings can also be applied to enhance the look and feel of the stucco finish on your home.

Stucco siding on average lasts 15 years. However, stucco has been known to last more than 40 years. How long stucco lasts is determined by many factors that we will discuss shortly.

The main advantage of stucco is an aesthetic one. For example, it can be made in the color and texture that best suits your design and style. This offers you, the homeowner, more flexibility, allowing you to design the outside of your home exactly the way you want it.

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Benefits of Stucco Siding

There are lots of advantages to stucco siding: it’s very versatile, cost effective, long-lasting and durable. This makes stucco an attractive option for the homeowner considering different siding materials.

Stucco Siding is Versatile
Stucco siding can be crafted into a smooth or rough texture. We can also place stones and other objects in stucco, which makes it unique to the outside of your home. Not only can you change the texture of stucco, you can change the color as well. We can add a number of different colors during the mixing process to achieve any color you might want.

Stucco Siding is Fire-Resistant
Made from lime, silica, and cement, stucco is very resistant to fire,outperforming almost all forms of siding in terms of its fire resistant qualities. Compared to wood siding or vinyl siding, stucco is much more efficient at stopping a fire and protecting your home.

Stucco Siding is Durable
Stucco can last up to 50 years before it must be replaced. That means your siding may only need to be replaced once during your lifetime. Most home owners will only see one stucco application on a house during their lifetimes.

Stucco Siding is Cost-Effective
Stucco one of the more affordable types of siding. In terms of cost, the labor-intensive installation adds to the price, but overall it is comparable in price to other siding options on the market. Compound siding is difficult to install, and requires a professional company to ensure quality work and keep your house protected and safe from the elements.

Stucco Siding Acts as Insulation
Compound siding is heavier and thicker than most other siding options. Stucco siding is made from a more dense material applied in several layers, so it serves as an effective insulator. This helps you save on your air conditioning bills in the summer and your heating bills in the winter. This also has the effect of blocking noise from the outside of your home. If you live in a busy neighborhood or you have lots of children in the area, stucco does an excellent job of keeping the outside noise outside.

Other Considerations For Stucco Siding

Not Great for All Environments
There are many areas of the country that are not a great option for stucco siding. Home owners want to avoid using stucco in very damp areas. Stucco is excellent at repelling moisture in regular climates; however, in very damp areas that have lots of rain, the stucco can become oversaturated and no longer protect your home from the moisture. This leads to wood and other building materials getting wet and deteriorating during each wet season. It can eventually lead to structural failures in your home.

Stucco Can Deteriorate
Stucco is made of rigid material and has little tensile strength. This is fine if your home is in an area where homes do not shift much. Some cracks can be easily repaired with basic materials from your local hardware store. If your home shifts because your foundation begins to sink or you’re in an earthquake area, you will get major cracking. We only install stucco on stable homes that aren’t subject to these forces. When we do our free quote and inspection, we take all this into consideration for you.

Maintenance is Slightly More Intensive
Most siding materials do require some level of maintenance, and stucco is definitely one of the siding materials that it takes some work to keep it in good shape. You will have to dedicate some of your personal time to maintaining your stucco home, but the level of maintenance required is somewhat minimal. The best place to start is to invest in a power washer as that is a stucco home’s best friend. Regularly pressure-washing your stucco to remove stains or any water marks will help prevent serious water marks from developing. Hairline cracks may develop over time, but they are easy to fix with an elastomeric sealant product.

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JTI Siding serves customers throughout the Northeast Arkansas, including Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale

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What is EIFS?

EIFS is an acronym for Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems. In the siding industry, we also call it synthetic stucco. It’s very similar to traditional stucco in that it is a multiple layer installation process. However, synthetic stucco has a layer of insulation instead of fiber glass mesh.

How does EIFS or Synthetic Stucco work?

A water-resistive barrier is applied and covers the substrate.
Adhesive – we use metal fasteners to attach the insulation board to the supporting structure
Foam insulation board is secured to the substrate using a form of adhesive.
An acrylic or polymer-based cement material is lathed to the top of the insulation, then reinforced with fiber glass mesh.
Reinforcement mesh is installed in the base coat.
A textured finish coat is installed to your specifications.

Pros of EIFS/Synthetic Stucco

Synthetic stucco is more waterproof than traditional stucco.
It is more energy efficient than traditional stucco. It has better insulation qualities, which reduce your heating costs in the winter and air conditioning costs in the summer.
Synthetic stucco is also very fire resistant.
Synthetic stucco does not yellow or fade like traditional stucco.
It’s a great sound barrier if you live in a noisy neighborhood near traffic or children.
Because it’s more flexible than traditional stucco, it offers more options. For example, we could add more detail to make the outside of your home more ornate.

Cons of EIFS/Synthetic Stucco

It is slightly more expensive than traditional stucco.
Synthetic stucco may make your home more water tight, but this very same quality means that if water does get behind the synthetic stucco, it is more likely to cause damage as it’s more likely to stay trapped in your wall.
Because synthetic stucco is more malleable or softer than traditional stucco, it is more likely to get damaged by things like hail or a child’s bike running into it. This may seem counterintuitive, but the harder stucco will often better resist the impact from nature and humans alike.

Maintaining EIFS

Doors and windows as well as flashings must be sealed by a professional to prevent water from seeping behind synthetic stucco.
Gutters and downspouts must be clean and installed properly to ensure water is moved away from your home.
Any time something penetrates your stucco, the stucco must be sealed properly again by a professional installation company.

Signs of EIFS Deterioration

Bloated wood around the door and window frames.
Bubbling of plastering accompanied by peeling paint.
Mildew appearing on the exterior of your home.
Cracks in the synthetic stucco or cracks in the sealant.

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Stucco Siding Repairs

Stucco repairs are sometimes very easy and sometimes you need to call in a professional. It is often difficult to know when it’s a DYI project and when you might want to consider calling in a pro. Sometimes, moisture will get in, and if it does, the wood behind the stucco will start to deteriorate. Stucco will produce moisture that looks like tears around openings like windows and doors, especially if they were not sealed properly. Also, you may see some staining under the tears. If this is the case, then major repairs will be required.

If you have cracks, check to see if they are horizontal or vertical. A vertical crack means your foundation is shifting. If there are vertical cracks, you need to call a professional to have it looked at immediately.

When the cracks are horizontal, it’s a DYI project. You can fill the crack with caulk, and then you can simply paint over it to cover the repair. Large cracks will require a thorough cleaning usually with a screwdriver or some kind of tool. After they are cleaned, you can simply put a bitumen-coated fiberglass patch into the crack. Once the patch dries, apply a second coat and remember to apply a texture to match your walls. The final step is matching the paint of your current home. Voila! You have just repaired your home siding yourself.