EIFS Moisture Analysis Certification Course

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Exterior Wall Cladding Moisture Analysis Training Course

COURSE OUTLINE

  1. Introduction
    1. Qualify the need for moisture analysis in the current construction industry.
    2. What exactly is Moisture Analysis.
    3. Describe the Moisture Analysis Program’s mission.
    4. How Moisture Analysis is incorporated into 3rd party inspections.
    5. Benefits of understanding Moisture Analysis including current opportunities.
  2. How Buildings Leak
    1. Go through each of the four transport mechanisms of water intrusion in detail (use examples).
    2. Briefly describe the seven kinetic forces that work against a building’s envelope.
    3. Describe how barrier systems (EIFS) and non-barrier systems (brick, conventional stucco, siding) work in performance and design.
    4. Describe typical failures of building cladding systems as it relates to moisture intrusion.
    5. Use references and experiences in tracking water intrusion into buildings.
  3. Building Envelope Waterproofing Design
    1. Define waterproofing.
    2. Define building an envelope.
    3. Expound on importance of sealants.
    4. Explain the critical details in a building’s envelope.
    5. What to look for in multiple components.
    6. Define drain screen vs. rain screen.
    7. Expound on the waterproofing face sealing of EIFS as a cladding.
  4. Visual Training Aid and Inspecting a Project
    1. What to look for when inspecting (video) – (Kim’s game – place 25 objects on a table and cover up. Instruct each class to look at objects for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes then write down objects. Explain and teach concept of Kim’s game!)
    2. Doing your first ten inspections, how to train yourself to visually detect installation flaws.
  5. How to Track and Detect Water Intrusion
    1. Visually (50%)
    2. Scientifically (30%)
    3. Instruments (20%)
    4. Tricks of the trade, tack strips, peeling paint, discoloration, fungus, mildew, mold, removing pictures from the wall, pushing and feeling of wood grains (buckling, splitting,) etc.
    5. Forensic insight.
    6. Experience in full scale investigations-both residential and commercial.
    7. Completed over 100 inspections.
    8. Thorough understanding of water intrusion deficiencies and latent construction defects.
  6. Inspection Equipment and Tools
    1. Show equipment in detail.
    2. Conduct mock-up inspection (video optional).
    3. Show how to and how not to use equipment.
    4. Customer courtesies and ethics.
    5. Tips and tricks of the trade.
    6. Other equipment and tools that can be used.
    7. Discussion of residential & commercial protocols with equipment.
    8. Let class touch, feel, and experiment with the equipment.
  7. Case Histories
    1. Demonstrate with case histories of several different cladding systems that the problem is not the cladding, but the installation (slide shows, visuals, photos)
    2. Show Exterior Wall Cladding failures & explain why they failed (slide shows, photos)
  8. Exterior Wall Cladding Restoration and Repairs
    1. Show details and expound on repair methods.
    2. Show problems and repair solutions.
    3. Short cuts that work when fixing Exterior Wall Claddings.
    4. Getting long-term performance after restoration.
    5. Fixing EIFS vs. other cladding systems.
  9. Wrap up of Moisture Analysis and Exam Review
    1. Summing it all up.
    2. Inform class of future EDI classes.
    3. Review what was taught in preparation for test.
    4. Open up class for questions and answers on Moisture Analysis Training.

 

Program Mission

Here and on the following pages is the program mission of the Moisture Analysis Training Course.

  • To train qualified inspectors in water migration into wall systems through visual, electronic, and scientific methods.
  • People go after the symptoms, but not the root of the problem – diagnose first, then treat!

To some degree, architects, designers, and builders are able to control the number of openings or holes in a building enclosure.

While driving forces such as wind and gravity cannot be controlled, they can be influenced by cladding, geometry, flashings, and drainage.

Waterproofing and weatherproofing (face sealing) are more dependent on:

 

Workmanship.

It is important to remember that EIFS and other cladding is not an isolated system. Rather, it is an integral part of exterior envelope construction.

Ideally, building assemblies would always be built with dry material under dry conditions, and would never get wet from imperfect design, poor workmanship, or occupants.

Unfortunately, these conditions do not exist.

Different components that work in conjunction with wall systems:

  1. Roof
  2. Windows and doors
  3. Decks and balconies
  4. Sealants
  5. Flashings
  6. Different integrated claddings

Methods of tracking moisture problems

  1. Visual observations (eyes 50%)
  2. Scientific (testing 30%)
  3. Instrumentation (equipment 20%)

The four moisture transport mechanisms predominant in building science are:

  1. Liquid flow
    The first and most significant moisture transport mechanism a designer and builder must deal with is liquid flow. This involves groundwater and rain moving under the influence of a driving force, typically gravity or air pressure. This mechanism is responsible for moving moisture from the exterior into the building envelope. Leakage will occur if three conditions prevail: (1) groundwater or rain is present, (2) an opening or hole in the building envelope exists, and (3) a driving force (gravity, momentum, surface tension, and/or an air pressure difference) is present.
  2. Capillary suction
    The second major moisture transport mechanism is capillary suction. Capillary suction acts primarily to move moisture into porous materials. For example, when one end of a piece of blotting paper is placed in contact with water, capillary suction causes the water to be drawn into the paper. Capillarity is a function of, among other things, pore size and available moisture. If pore size in a material is large, such as in clear gravel and coarse sand, then capillarity will not exist. If pore size in a material is small, such as in concrete, silty clay, and blotting paper, then capillarity is possible. Naturally, capillarity will not exist in materials that do not have pores such as glass, steel, and most plastics. However, if two materials, which do not have any capillary pores, are placed closely enough together, such as two panes of glass, the space between them can itself become a capillary pore. Another example of this phenomenon is the migration of solder by capillarity into the tight space between two plumbing pipes when they are joined.
  3. Air movement
    The third moisture transport mechanism is air movement. This mechanism can move moisture into building assemblies both from within the conditioned space and from the exterior. Depending on temperature, air can hold varying amounts of moisture in the vapor state. When air moves as a result of an air pressure difference, it will carry the moisture held within it. If air containing moisture comes in contact with a surface below the air’s dew point temperature, the air may deposit some of its moisture on that surface in the form of condensation. For moisture to be moved into a building assembly as a result of air movement, three conditions are necessary: (1) air containing moisture is present, (2) an opening or hole exists in the assembly, and (3) an air pressure difference acting across the opening or hole exists. Although moisture may enter a building assembly if these three conditions are met, moisture may not necessarily be deposited within the assembly. Air-flow speeds must be slow enough for the air to cool to the dew point temperature before it exits the air leakage path. Fast flowing air can warm the surfaces of the flow path above the dew point temperature of the out flowing air and condensation may not occur.
  4. Vapor Diffusion
    The fourth, and final moisture transport mechanism is vapor diffusion. It can move moisture into building assemblies both from within the conditioned space, as well as from the exterior. Vapor diffusion is the movement of moisture in the vapor state through a material. Materials are not able to stop vapor diffusion, they are only able to slow down or retard the process. Hence the term “vapor diffusion retarder” is appropriate, not vapor barrier.

In order to effectively design building assemblies to control moisture, the entire set of moisture sources and movement mechanisms must be considered. To begin with, building assemblies can become wet in three ways:

  1. Moisture can enter from the interior.
  2. Moisture can enter from the exterior.
  3. The assembly can start out wet as a result of using wet materials or building under wet conditions.

Moisture can be removed (dried) to the exterior or to the interior in three ways:

  1. Liquid flow due to gravity (drainage)
  2. Air movement (ventilation)
  3. Vapor diffusion (vapor pressure differences)

All of these mechanisms can act singly or in combination to dry out the substrate.