Plastering being one of the oldest of occupations, or as I am fond of calling it, the second “oldest profession” is represented in the United States and Canada by the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association, which was chartered in 1864 and is the oldest of all the active building trades unions in North America.
I
was driving down the road and listening to the radio. Talk radio in particular;
the topic was about education in America’s high schools and the sad state of
affairs our educational system is in and how we have failed our young people in
the last few decades.
An
EIFS finish coat is a textured, paint-like material. It’s usually made with
acrylic resins or a blend of acrylic resins and other resins, such as silicones.
The hardness of the coating and its textured surface make it susceptible to
getting dirty.
What
a year. Good riddance and let’s hope for a turn around in 2009. Most people
feel surviving 2009 will be the key and things should improve in 2010. With
banks failing, construction starts down, and stocks in the tank, it can only
get better. This year was a bad year for us in the industry on another front.
Most people think of being smart as knowing a lot of stuff. I have a different definition of smart. That’s knowing what you don’t know. Although the world is filled with self-styled know-it-alls, the truth is that nobody knows more than a tiny fraction of all there is to know about any given subject.
In our March 2008 column, we discussed the ever-growing online library of technical documents published by the Gypsum Association. To restate one of the major points made in that column, one of our most important roles in the industry is that of providing the most current technical information on gypsum products to three target audiences: contractors, design professionals, and building officials.
The Construction Specifications Institute, the organization responsible for the creation of MasterFormat used by specifiers, architects, manufacturers, and contractors throughout the United States, is entering the world of sustainable design with GreenFormat-a product data guide developed to track green properties of building materials and components used during construction.
There are two basic ways of terminating the edge of an EIFS. One is by using the EIFS materials themselves, and the other is using some type of non-EIFS trim product, such as preformed plastic or metal pieces.