Stucco News

                Synthetic stucco is highly toxic!




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Nothing "Green" about synthetic stucco.

 Earth friendly ? Don't believe it! Nothing earth friendly about synthetic stucco finishes or EIFS.

According to TOTAL WALL, a synthetic stucco manufacturer, Goggles must be worn, also rubber gloves, and full coveralls when using their synthetic finish. If not in a well ventilated area, you must wear a mask with "dust/mist/ fume cartridges. This finish also contains carcinogens, known to the state of California to cause cancer.
All this information is on their web site. Click here to view a PDF file.
STUC-O-FLEX, another large manufacturer of syntetic finishes says to use wear NIOSH approved organic vapor respirator, provide adequate
ventilation, as well as wear chemical resistent gloves
and goggles or safety glasses with side sheilds.
They also say, "Prevent from entering waterways, sewers, and/or low areas.".
Also, their finishes are high in VOC's
Here is the quanity of VOC's contained:
Coating VOC = 27 g/L
Material VOC = 20 g/L
I don't know what is high VOC's or low VOC's, but this seems high to me. VOC's are volitile organic compounds which could emit gases. The point of green construction is to use materials with low or no  VOC's. Don't believe me ? All this information is on the Stucoflex website: Click here for a pdf file.

Manufacturers of materials are required to provide Material Safety Data Shetts, of MSDS's, wit information about hazards of using their material.
These MSDS's are usually available on the manufacturer's web site, or by request.


I know of someone (not mentioned here), that is receiving a Leed's Certification
and government grant for a house with synthetic stucco. In other words, the federal government is paying them to build an environmentally friendly house, that isn't environmentally friendly at all, but environmentally hostile. 


Cement stucco, that is, cement, lime and sand are about as environmentally
friendly as you can get. Cement and lime are made from rocks, which come from the earth and go back to the earth because it is earth. 


Cement and lime are caustic, but not toxic. The reason cement and lime can cause burns is because they are high alkaline, the opposite of the pH scale from acid.
Burns from cement and concrete can be neutralized with an acid, like vinegar, for example.


The difference between cement mortar and concrete is that concrete has gravel,
another earth friendly material. If concrete was toxic, I'm sure no one would 
build water reservoirs, dams, aqueducts, etctera, from concrete.


We do work with a chemical that is toxic, and that is the acrylic additive we use
for a bonder in recoating old stucco, and bonding to concrete, etc. Bonding admixtures, however contain no VOC's, and are far less toxic than a layer of paint on a house. I am not professing to be 100% earth friendly, but real stucco is about as earth friendly as there is.

It does really infuriate me to see "Green" building and earth friendly on
synthetic stucco houses. They only thing "green" here is the money somebody
puts in his pocket. You may turn green from breathing this stuff.

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