gardenchick1: "The home inspector said she had no trouble recommending an EIFS home done properly." Well...that does not say much for the HI...as the HI would need to document that it was done properly, which is not possible unless she was their during construction...which is why HI's are NOT supposed to recommend anything...other than that something does or does not need repair or further evaluation. Ask the HI if she would be willing to pay for the tear out if she is wrong... That said...the problem with EIFS is even if it is done correctly (few and far between, as few if any contractor's subs do a "perfect" job on anything), no house is entirely impervious to water intrusion forever. However, unlike other cladding, the sheathing under can dry more readily...with EIFSÂ..it locks moisture in to the house....in a way that the standard weep holes etc. don't entirely mitigate. The bottom line is as others have stated...perception. There have been so many problems with EIFS that it has affected the resale value of such homes. After all, exactly HOW does one prove that their EIFS home is one that was done perfectly?? Relo manuals warn employees to steer clear.......insurance is indeed an issue...and no Home Inspector can equivocally tell any buyer for certain if water has intruded...or not. A synthetic stucco home is a risk...for those who are comfortable with the risk...and the inherent resale issues, so be it...however, it truly is a risk that is entirely unnecessary to take....and apparently expensive, supposedly well built homes are just as suspect...see below. Here is a link that might be useful: EIFS, Mold & Michael Jordan

My house is not finished yet. Possibly by next week. We plan to start moving some things in this weekend if the locks are on the doors. The edge pieces of the granite bumped up the cost. I think the mason said the corners were $11.00 each. He searched for the largest ones he could find. The other option was to have the mason cut the stone for corners. Then you add the labor cost so it would probably equal. The basic stone price was close to the Owens Corning price. I believe the price for the chimney and interior wall for wood stove came to $7,000. including labor which was a bit higher than our contractor expected. This was the first time the mason had used this product and he was very pleased with the results. He is working with a contractor who builds log homes and he stated he would offer this product. We are all happy with this project.

Umm, sojay, I just needed to clarify my previous post coz I re-read it in the course of re-inspecting your gorgeous xformation. When I spoke of necessity/shabbiness being the mom to invention, I actually meant that whereas most other remodels are inspired by the fact that the original is shoddy, shabby or otherwise dodgy, your original space was not any of those. That makes the vision you had that much more impressive. Upon reviewing my post it seemed even to myself like I was saying that your original was shabby and I was quite horrified - not only to have said such a thing but also because it would have been patently untrue. Anyhow, I was just showing off your work to some friends.

Have you ever thought to make the door and side lights work more with the stone? just curious. That being said, i'm not sure but I think with the right professional lime wash could work.