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Hi all, I'm in the early stages of planning now so my ideas are probably a bit rough. I need to decide on a finish. The basics of the variables:

- Climate zone 2/3 (central texas)

- The walls are concrete, either cast in place or CMU haven't decided on one yet

- Haven't settled on a type of rigid foam yet until i decide on the finish

- Lower end cost house, not luxury


I've looked at a few options, EIFS, Vinyl, Insulated Vinyl, etc. but have had a hard time telling which is best for a lower end concrete house since most information out there seems to be about wood construction. For example I saw people trashing EIFS but they were in reference to moisture leaks which doesn't seem quite as relevant.

For vinyl, is it bad idea to attach it to foam? Does it need to be drilled into the concrete? Can it just be glued on the foam?

For EIFS, I was looking at rigid or flexible Acrylic artificial stuccos, they're labeled as foundation coatings on the website but I figured that was just because they aren't guaranteed against moisture. Their video makes it look easier than stucco. They use a fiberglass scrim designed to attach to foam and then do 1 - 2 coats.

Would fiberboard be too heavy to go on foam?

Thanks for your time, I'm really wet behind the ears on this issue so I hope I'm looking in the right direction.

 

[cleveman]

I've seen vinyl installed over xps with nailers installed every 16" or so. This was in the Mediterranean area.

Personally, I have installed a very heavy fake stone vinyl product over 2" xps sticking up out of the ground on a basement wall. I had the sill plate overhanging the basement wall by 2", so it was flush with the 2" xps. I nailed the heavy vinyl on the top, and had some flashing covering it up, then I went with normal vinyl up the wall.

This heavy fake stone vinyl was the only product I could find which I could partially bury.

 

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Thank you very much, i'll look into that.