EIFS has been approved for inclusion in the 2009 International Building Code and International Residential Code, EIMA announced. The final adoption occurred in mid-September at the 2008 International Code Council’s Annual Conference & Final Action Hearings in Minneapolis.

The approval is the culmination of more than six years of effort.

“This action validates the product and removes ambiguities in the interpretation of what EIFS are, and how they are implemented into the building code construction process,” said EIMA’s Executive Director Steve Klamke, adding manufacturers BASF, Dryvit, Parex and Sto contributed time to help. “The acceptance of EIFS into the IBC and IRC is a long time coming and we are very pleased,” said David Boivin, president of Sto and sits on the EIMA board of directors. “We thank the members of the EIFS community who have been diligently working to satisfy the requirements of the ICC. The recognition clearly removes any remaining hurdles for full acknowledgement by the building industry that EIFS is the cladding of choice.”

Klamke said in a press release that the achievement grew out of efforts of the Technical Advisory Committee since EIMA’s accreditation as an ANSI standards organization in 1999.