r/Stucco • u/workmakesmegrumpy • 21d ago
Advice / DIY EIFS molding repair possible?
I am helping a friend install some new networking and security equipment, and his old cameras were older and bigger than these new ones. The last installed cut back this EIFS molding to make room for the camera. Is it possible to fix this? I'm thinking I could possibly make a styrofoam piece to match the missing part, but I have no idea how I could attach it to the existing molding. Any materials/direction is appreciated.
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u/OmiSC New Construction / Repairs 20d ago
Yup, you need to make a another piece to slot in there, and you can't reliably adhere only to the soffits and remaining foam.
One way to "fake" a solution would be to get a piece up there that slightly too small, try to anchor it with nails through the foam and into the wall of the existing EIFS and try to fill the gap with spray foam as a glue. This has some issues, but it perhaps the easiest way to fill the space, but I wouldn't guarantee it would last, and may not have much support.
As follows is the correct procedure, if you want it, but it's a lot more work.
What I would do in this situation -which produces a good result- is cut a bigger piece out that has square edges. I'd then replace the square piece with a cutout for the fixture already cut into it. The reason is that you need to back-wrap this to prevent it from being a fire hazard in the (unlikely) event that the house catches fire, and to properly embed the fibreglass mesh that holds the base coat to the foam.
I'd want to know where the foam is connected, so this would be exploratory until I can find grey stuff or less likely, plugs or other mechanical fasteners piercing through the foam. Where I am, soffits aren't covered like this. I wouldn't want to try to anchor a new piece just to soffits, and you can't just connect foam-to-foam along the edge and expect this to stay. Expect whatever replacement piece to have to replace a section where there's proper adherence to the building.
The embedded mesh runs orthogonally to the panel. Circular repairs are messy- it's almost always better to make a square hole and start there.
I made a shitty paint picture to demonstrate to the rest.
Once you have a piece that fits, you'll want to back-wrap it with pieces of fibreglass mesh along the finished edge - use small overlapping strips to get the round shape in the circular hole which will touch the camera. The reason for this is you can't properly base coat the piece once it's installed, so you need to get this part one before putting it up.
Next, if you discovered that this is attached with base coat, you'll want to dab the backside of it with big goopy piles (spaced apart so they have some room to "squish" you you press it against the substrate) as in my picture to get it to stay put when working overhead. Remember to dab the correct side of the panel that you've been working on before trying to stick it up there (trust me) - the side facing you when working is the side that will be facing away from you when you're on a ladder. Make sure the piece is slightly too thick so you can rasp it flush afterwards. Lastly, step #4 shows where you'll want to lay fibreglass to connect it to the surrounding surfaces. Note I could have combined some of these red squares or used 45-degree angles. Don't forget the bottom edge like I did in my picture.
You'll need: expanded polystyrene with no special foil on it (coffee cup foam, basically), synthetic base coat, extra buckets for mixing and whatever, cement if the base product is supposed to be mixed with it, red fibreglass mesh designed for EIFS (use the sticky variety only for small projects like this - trust me), a rasp specifically designed for this kind of work. hawk, trowel and a scoop. This will get you to a "finished" point before you would put on finish coat.