Cape Fear Stucco · Wilmington & the Cape Fear coast

EIFS Moisture Damage Assessment | Wilmington & Cape Fear

A probe survey tells you what a walkaround can't. You get the data, and the data decides the scope.

Send us your moisture report →

Both paths quoted

Repair and full remediation, every time. You see both numbers.

The readings decide

Probe data sets the scope - not a salesman, not the finish.

One business day

Send your report; we tell you what it actually requires.

The worst EIFS damage we find is almost always behind a wall that looks perfect.

That is the whole problem with a face-sealed system, and it is why a visual inspection tells you so little. Barrier EIFS traps water behind the finish. The acrylic coat can be clean and crack-free while the plywood two inches behind it is soft. You cannot see it, you cannot tap for it reliably, and you cannot smell it from the driveway. You have to measure it.

Why a visual walkaround isn’t enough

Anyone can look at a wall and point at a stained window or a hairline crack. That tells you where water might be getting in. It tells you nothing about where the water went or how much wood it ruined on the way.

Two EIFS homes can look identical from the street. One has dry sheathing and needs a little sealant maintenance. The other has three failed kickouts and a rotted deck ledger. The finish does not distinguish them. Only the readings do.

What a probe assessment actually measures

We take moisture readings as wood-moisture equivalent, or WME, using a probe meter pushed through the finish and into the sheathing at systematic points. The probe reads the actual moisture content of the wood at that spot, not the surface.

Where we probe

We do not probe at random. We concentrate on the points EIFS is documented to fail:

  • Below and beside every window and door.
  • At roof-wall junctions, where missing kickout flashing is the leading cause of intrusion.
  • Deck-to-wall and porch terminations.
  • Penetrations: hose bibs, lights, vents, dryer exhausts.
  • Grade-level and any spot with visible staining or a prior repair.

What the numbers tell us

Dry wood reads low and stable. Elevated readings mean water is present in the sheathing right now. A single hot point suggests isolated intrusion. Elevated readings clustered across an elevation suggest the damage has spread. The map of readings, not any one number, is what determines whether you are looking at a targeted repair or full remediation. We explain how to read the resulting report in reading your moisture report.

You get the data

This is the part that matters. We are a neutral referee here. The readings decide the scope, not a salesman, so we hand you the readings. You get the probe locations, the numbers, and a plain-language summary of what they mean. If you already have a third-party inspection report, even better, send it and we will interpret it against what we find.

That transparency is the point of the whole business. A contractor who will not show you the data he is basing a fifty-thousand-dollar quote on is asking you to trust the quote instead of the evidence.

The re-inspection clock

Moisture readings have a shelf life. Readings are generally treated as current for about 30 days, a full inspection for around 120 days, with a re-inspection norm of roughly every three years. If you are not selling yet but you own an older EIFS home on the coast, a periodic assessment is cheap insurance. Finding one bad kickout early is a corner repair. Finding it after five years of runoff is a re-clad.

The pattern

An older EIFS home near the water had a clean bill from a visual walk and a nervous seller who wanted a second opinion before listing. The probe survey found elevated readings at two kickout locations the eye completely missed, still isolated, still cheap to fix. Caught at that stage it was a repair. Left alone through another year of coastal storms it would not have been.

Send your existing report, or request an assessment, through the contact form. We will measure it, not guess at it.

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Send us your moisture report.

Upload the inspection report or photos of the readings. We tell you what it actually requires - repair or full remediation - honestly, before your closing date does.

✓  Licensed & insured
✓  We quote both repair and remediation
✓  Serving the Cape Fear region