Installation Over Continuous Insulation
In the video, Chris Hines, Technical Manager of Boral Stone Products, talks about installing manufactured stone products over continuous insulation. Continuous insulation was originally viewed as a threat to the business. It was a thick material installed on the outside of a building, that did not support the fasteners currently used to install manufactured stone. To prevent the wood or metal stud frame from transferring heat to the outdoors, a layer of continuous insulation is applied to the outside of the frame.
He shows the evolution in the IECC code from 2009 to 2015. With respect to continuous insulation, the builders and designers were left with a couple of choices. There’s a prescriptive path, that centres around following the IECC tables, and a performance path, in which simulation software is used to demonstrate that your solution is equal to or better than what has been prescribed.
Chris discusses the initial solution prescribed for the problem. He then moves into the current situation. Boral went to an engineering firm called DrJ and had a technical evaluation report completed that covers their product only, for continuous insulation. Your fastener for the lath is cantilevered to the thickness of the foam, and you have to select from a table within the technical document, the diameter of the fastener that you use, that will support the required weight. You can go directly to the DRJ website and print a sealed version of that technical evaluation.
Along the same lines as a continuous insulation installation, we often talk about EIFS. EIFS is a layer of foam, much like the continuous insulation, except there’s a synthetic stucco added on top of it. Chris talks about the importance of inspecting the system itself, because it’s sealed; addressing 6 points. If you are able to verify that everything matches current installation standards, you could install over EIFS just like continuous insulation. You would refer to the TER document and find the fastener you need to attach the lath over top of the EIFS.
Additional Resources
DrJ Certification Links: Cultured Stone® & ProStone® Applications Over Continuous Insulation