Caulking Windows to E.I.F.S. Surface (by Wayne Belcher)

We’re gonna learn a little bit about how to seal a window frame to the EIFS surface. You’ll notice that here is the scratch coat on the backside of the EIFS. The EIFS finish has come and stopped, and that’s exactly how it should be. So what we’re gonna do is we’re going to seal up to the finish coat and make that all disappear. And as you can see around the window, we’re going to seal a little wider at the top. We’ll show you how we’re gonna do that. As we come around the top and down the other jam, we’re gonna make that all disappear with sealant.

So, now we’re gonna take some backer rod to set the depth of the sealant around the joint of the window. We’ll roll that in nice and neat. The purpose of the backer rod is to set the depth of the joint, prevent three-sided adhesion, and when I caulk it, it’s gonna give me something firm to tool against. So, we’ll just get that set back in there just right. Typically, the depth of the sealant, rule of thumb is about one-half the width, but never to be less than a quarter inch and never greater than a half inch.

Before I caulk this, let’s take another look. I’ve already prepped the joint and you can see the scratch coat that I’m going to cover with sealant, a little wider at the top. We’re gonna pay close attention to how we do that, but we’re gonna come down the jam and we’re gonna make that all go away and look perfect, like an extension of the window.

So, what I’m using today is an Albion Electric 18-volt. And watch how I slowly put that in the proper place.

In order to seal this properly to the EIFS, I can’t use a spatula, I have to use a tapered tuck pointer. So, the first pass is just to find out where it’s gonna go and how much I have there.

So, as you can see, I’ve created a straight line and I’ve covered all that cementitious. So, you’ll notice from our last shot at the head we have a little more of the cementitious showing, so here is where the skill of shooting just the right amount of material is very important.

So, we’re ready to put a new sausage in. We’re gonna make it easy. All ready to go.

You see how nicely this gun allows me to shoot the material just enough. Shooting out the window surrounds, now we’re gonna go back to tool the sealant. First pass is just to see where it’s gonna go. Second pass puts it more in shape and our third pass should be just about right.

We’re at the backside of the building now and we have white EIFS with a dark bronze window frame. And we’re gonna be shooting dark bronze, so this is gonna create quite a challenge. White on black, practically. Take a look at this. So you see the challenge that we have the white on black, so come on in and let’s see what we can do as we start to shoot.

Well, you saw us already shoot the joint, now let’s see what we can do about tooling it and making those lines nice and straight. So come on in. I’m gonna start at the bottom. Find out just how much I got. Working against the gravity. I don’t wanna pull it or smear it. And from the top, nice and slow. Now I know how much I got. Now I know where it’s gonna go. I can draw my line. More pass. I wanna make it pretty because that’s just me. Nice and straight lines, white on black. Using a tuck pointer that’s tapered, we can draw those lines.

Very important, draw a line. Just the right amount of material.

So, now I’m gonna pick the right tool to push that sealant in the proper location without making a smear and a mess. That’s why I like the tuck pointers that I have pre-ground to fit.

Nice and smooth and straight. Here’s the first window we did early in the morning, our mock-up. Let’s see how that looks. Now we have finished our dark bronze on white, around the dark bronze window frames. Let’s see how they turned out.

I hope you found this video informative, and I want to thank you for watching.