By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
What if the finish on every stucco home came with a warranty against cracks and surface mold?
Considering recent high-profile lawsuits over improper stucco installations, it’s not likely.
Mark Rose talked about another home-cladding system that has such a guarantee, though, and it looks a lot like stucco.
A manager at LP Building Products, Rose pitched the material at the November breakfast meeting of the Clay County Builders Council.
The product is SmartSide, a structural sheathing that covers the wood studs on a home.
In construction, it replaces oriented-strand board — that 4-by-8-foot sheet that looks like a glued mass of wood chips.
Unlike oriented-strand board, SmartSide is infused with zince borate, a preservative that keeps the wood from rotting, and wax, which protects the wood from moisture.
SmartSide is one half of the system. On top of it goes a textured acrylic finish — sprayed or troweled on — that looks like stucco. Manufactured by dryvit, it also has mold and fungus proofing ingredients.
Combined, the products offer what Rose said was “the strongest warrantee of any siding material I’m aware of.”
A 10-year guarantee for the dryvit can be renewed indefinitely if paired with periodic maintenance. And a 5-year bumper-to-bumper guarantee for the SmartSide with a 50-year guarantee against manufacturer defect.
The cladding system has gained traction in Southeast Texas as an alternative to stucco. Rose said Northeast Florida’s similar market of frame and stucco construction means the system could also do well here.
With changes to the state building code, a lot of Florida markets are instituting inspections to confirm the proper wait-times are being observed when applying layers of stucco. That means three weeks to apply stucco. A SmartSide/dryvit system can be installed in days.
SmartSide costs $35 to $40 per 4-by-8 sheet. That’s quite expensive compared to oriented-strand board.
But as a system, the material and labor savings make it a cheaper solution overall, Rose said.