Do you think anyone thought about preserving wattle and daub as they smeared
it on?. How long did it take for decent details to emerge? 200 years? Back
then they had 3 basic materials, how many do we have now? Is that bad? I
still like the idea of spraying a ballon with foam then gunitte.ctb
-----Original Message-----
From: Jrhodes <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: Law suits concerning EIFS


Re Ralph:
>Tell us again why you want to keep samples of this stuff ......and do you
want
>to keep files of good details (if any exist) along with the non-details and
>bad details?


Someone once asked me if I thought it was OK to use aluminum siding on an
old house.  As a preservationist, would I ever specify aluminum siding?

I said, yes...if the original building had aluminum siding.

Would I preserve an EIFS building.  Well...yes if that's what it was
originally made of, and you really want it preserved.  Then, I'd want to
know the content of what I'm preserving...the material formulas.  Next, I'd
decide if we preserve actual material or in-kind solutions.  Right now I'm
preserving Guastavino acoustolith.  Each "tile" is a slightly different
color, gradually becoming subtlely darker shades progressing up the wall.
What exactly is acoustolith made of?  Is the pigment in the matrix or
soaked in from the surface of the tile?  How we clean, patch and replicate
is aided by knowing what this innovative material is made of.

Though I doubt much of anything made of EIFS will survive toward a
preservable future, who knows.  Will Disney's fanticies in California and
Florida wind up on the National Register and need preserving?  One never
knows...does one?  I'm sure the Lever House and the Seagram Building
weren't built anticipating preservation either, but here we are testing
sealants and deciding if it's better preservation practice to preserve the
actual artifact or better to preserve the spirit of the original in new
material.  (Let's look again at Rehab Standards #5 amd 6.)

The detailing question regards whether the EIFS material really has viable
applications in the first place, and I have my doubts.  I'd just like for
the industry to prove its point.  Show me the goods.  I'm sure that not the
architect and buyer is pretty much on their own when the stuff hits the
fan, no matter how much the industry promotes it.  --Jim R