EIMA has been informed from a member that Home Depot is selling EIFS reinforcing mesh online. EIMA’s attempt to contact Home Depot to ascertain why the commercial building materials supply house is advertising and selling EIFS reinforcing mesh when it is the EIFS manufacturer responsibility to supply the mesh as a part of the EIFS system.
The potential problem in this instance is Home Depot selling a non-code compliant reinforcing mesh, and like all EIFS components, this mesh must meet requirements of ASTEM E2568. Included in these requirements are requirements for fire testing. One of these tests is NFPA 285 which requires the reinforcing mesh to be tested in situ with the whole EIFS system.