Anyone experience with Dryvit? (Frankfort: sales, new house, buying)

[Threes-A-Charm]

So we're looking at a house, built 1998, 1/2 Dryvit, 1/2 Stone. Our realtor is saying if we get it inspected and it clears inspection, we could replace it with something like Hardyboard for approx $40k.

Others are telling us, no question asked, stay away from buying anything with Dryvit.

Can anyone shed some light on Dryvit based on experience or deep knowledge?

Can issues from Dryvit really be fully inspected without removing it?

Thanks so much!!

[oldhousegirl]

Originally Posted by Threes-A-Charm

So we're looking at a house, built 1998, 1/2 Dryvit, 1/2 Stone. Our realtor is saying if we get it inspected and it clears inspection, we could replace it with something like Hardyboard for approx $40k.

Others are telling us, no question asked, stay away from buying anything with Dryvit.

Can anyone shed some light on Dryvit based on experience or deep knowledge?

Can issues from Dryvit really be fully inspected without removing it?

Thanks so much!!

A friend of ours was excited about "this great new home material", this was in maybe the early 2000's. His huge brand spanking new house was in Frankfort. All he talked about was the revolutionary exterior building material. Turned out it was Dryvit. He paid a lot of money for the house, and he did have problems with moisture.

Another thing is even if you paid to have it removed, are other houses in the area covered in it? That would likely impact overall resale for the area.

When we were looking a few years ago, our realtor would point out certain subdivisions and give a thumbs down based on too many of the houses having Dryvit, or some other form of compromised siding.

[chet everett]

There are many myths surrounding Dryvit.

There are lots reasons people are unfairly critical of the product. For starters, it is often used "generically" like "Kleenux" to describe any "Exterior Insulated Finishing System" when it should be distinguished from products that look similar but do not come with a comprehensive warranty. The reason Dryvit come with a warranty is that there is a specific training system designed to make installers aware of the do's and don'ts. If you are looking at true Dryvit that have been installed by a competently trained installer you should get a copy of the warranty and you should realize this is a VERY energy efficient option that should help your home be easy to heat and cool while lasting a LOOONG time -- http://www.dryvit.com/fileshare/doc/...ion/DS5015.pdf

If you do not have that warranty things get murkier but any well trained inspector SHOULD be able to tell whether the product that was used had been installed properly AND verify that there is no cause for concern with moisture being trapped behind the EIFS.

I would not hesitate to live in home that has been properly inspected and has any EIFS.

If a home does not pass the inspection the potential costs could escalate VERY quickly because the issue may not be limited to the exterior, but could have penetrated into the wall cavities. That means the whole house might potentially need to have the exterior stripped away, the sheathing removed, the windows potentially replaced, the insulation removed, the mold addressed, even interior drywall and associated fixtures that penetrate the drywall replaced. This could be an insanely costly proposition and though it is VERY rare it has happened and when those news reports get circulated it of course makes folks leery of facing this daunting situation...

SO -- if the home otherwise meets your needs you should by all means write the offer that includes an option to have it fully inspected by qualified professionals and if that inspection is satisfactory move forward. If the results of that inspection are not indicative of situation you can afford to deal with then your sales offer should explicity state how you get your earnest money back.