Can you estimate both encapsulation and removal of my EIFS, and tell me which you would recommend?

Yes. Both options get priced from the same visit: encapsulation, which is a recoat over the existing EIFS at $3 to $5.50 per square foot of wall, and full removal and re-clad at $20,000 to $45,000 on our published table. Which one we recommend comes down to the moisture readings, and the interior area only enters the estimate where a section probes wet. The specific number for your house needs the probe visit; the rest of this page is everything that goes into it.

What does encapsulation mean on a synthetic stucco house?

Encapsulation is the trade word for recoating: the foam, mesh and base coat stay, and the wall gets new sealant at every window, door and penetration, patches where the finish is cracked or dented, bonding primer where it chalks, and a new acrylic or elastomeric finish coat over the whole elevation. On a wall that is dry it restores the weather seal and the color for a fraction of a tear off. What it does not do matters just as much. A face sealed EIFS wall from the late 1980s or 1990s has no drainage plane, so encapsulating it seals water in as readily as it keeps water out. The federal Whole Building Design Guide describes this in its EIFS wall system entry, which is why a recoat on a wet wall is the one thing we will not sell. Our failing or faded guide covers how to read the wall from the driveway before anyone meters it.

When is removal the right call instead of encapsulating?

Removal is right when wet probe readings cover most of the house, when the base coat has let go of the foam in sheets, or when the sheathing behind every opened section has rotted. Everything short of that is handled by the middle row below, which is where most Will County houses land: one or two wet window sections rebuilt, then the whole house encapsulated so the rebuilt sections disappear under the new finish.

Ranges are from our published table. Wet and delaminated sections are priced after a probe test, never from the driveway.

The prose version of that table: encapsulation on a 2,200 square foot dry two story runs $6,600 to $12,100 and keeps the house as it is. The same house with two wet window sections adds $8,000 to $24,000 of remediation before the recoat. Full removal of the same house is $20,000 to $45,000 and is the only option that can swap the cladding or add a drainage plane. Removal is never the cheaper way to fix a dry house, and encapsulation is never the right way to fix a wet one. The remediation page shows what happens inside a section once it is open.

Does the estimate cover the interior area too?

Only where a section is wet, and even then the interior line is written after the wall is opened from outside, because the size of the stain on the drywall and the size of the rot in the stud bay rarely match. What the interior side of an EIFS estimate can include:

• Drywall and paint on the inside face of any section that probes wet. Priced after the exterior is opened, because the stain on the drywall and the rot in the stud bay rarely match in size.
• Batt insulation in the wet stud bay. It comes out whenever the sheathing does; wet fiberglass does not dry inside a closed wall.
• Window and door frames. A rotted sill or jamb is found from outside, but the trim and the finish repair happen inside.
• Mold cleanup. The EPA treats an area under about 10 square feet as a homeowner cleanup and anything larger as a job for someone trained in it. We price the wall work; a large interior mold area is a separate line from a remediation contractor.
• Nothing, on a dry house. An encapsulation estimate on a wall that probes dry has no interior line, and a contractor who adds one without a wet reading is padding.

The mold threshold above is the EPA’s own guidance in its mold cleanup page: under roughly 10 square feet is a homeowner job, larger areas should go to someone trained in mold remediation. We say so on the estimate rather than fold it into a wall number.

How do we build an estimate that covers both options?

The same five steps every time, and the probe readings in step two decide everything after them.

1. Measure the wall area, elevation by elevation, less windows and doors. Most Joliet two stories run 1,800 to 2,800 square feet. Everything in the encapsulation price multiplies it.
2. Meter every elevation and probe the suspect spots: under windows, at roof to wall joints, deck ledgers, hose bibs and vents. Photos of every reading. This is the moisture inspection, $450 to $850 on its own, and it is the single input that decides which column you are in.
3. Count the sealant joints in linear feet. Every opening gets cut out and resealed on either option, because the joints are the leak.
4. Sort each elevation into a condition row: faded, chalking, cracked, failed sealant, wet, delaminated. The recoat cost by wall condition guide shows what each row adds.
5. Write both numbers side by side: encapsulation for the dry area with any wet sections priced as remediation, and full removal for comparison. Then say which one we would do on our own house, and why.

The moisture inspection guide shows where each probe goes on a typical Joliet two story, and the recoat cost by wall condition page carries the per row additions. Illinois has no state license for stucco or EIFS work, so ask any contractor for the certificate of insurance and for photos of the readings before you compare their two numbers to ours.

Which option would we recommend?

Encapsulation when the house probes dry, section remediation plus encapsulation when it has one or two wet spots, and removal when the readings say the house is wet nearly everywhere. That is the recommendation for roughly nine of ten calls we take across Joliet, Plainfield, Shorewood and New Lenox, and it is the one we would make on our own house. Two situations change it. A house listed for sale inside 60 days with known wet readings should get the inspection report and price the fix into the listing, because a fresh coat over documented damage reads as concealment to a buyer’s inspector. And a house where the owner wants a different look, brick or fiber cement instead of stucco, is a removal conversation even when the wall is dry, because encapsulation cannot change the cladding. Every house is different, so send the address and a photo of the worst spot and the probe visit turns these ranges into your two numbers.