Coating/Covering for exposed Rigid Foam Insulation

[Jerry In Maine]

Having a house built and had the exterior of the basement wall insulated with 2" rigid foam insulation. After backfilling I have 24" of the foam exposed above grade.

My plan was to apply a Quikcrete product call "One coat fiberglass reinforced stucco" over a mesh attached to the foam. Trouble is my local building supply can only get the product in full pallets. I figure I only need abut 15 - 20 bags.

I'm no expert at working with stucco - so I thought the one coat system would be easy for me and would be likely to give good results.

Curious if anyone has any other ideas as to how I might coat or cover the foam in such a way that it looks decent and will stand up to Maine weather.

thanks

[HayZee518]

trouble with the foam product is that it is flexible and the stucco is rigid. something's got to give. if you can find a sealant product that flexes it would be better. asphalt paint flexes but I don't think you'd like the black color. there's a spray on product called rhino hide that is rubber based and flexes. hey, look into a product similar to what they spray on pickup truck bedliners. maybe you can find something with a color you like.

[Jerry In Maine]

I think a spray on caoating would look like....well...foam sheets that had been painted.

I'd like a "continuous" look. Something that would hide the seams of the foam boards that show every 4". Stucco would do that.

Maybe some sort of exterior grade plywood that I could apply and then paint to look nice?

[adnadeau]

You need to get the foam covered up, as it will deteriorate in direct sunlight. I used 1/4" Hardibacker sheets. I dug a shallow trench alongside the foam with a hand trowel, ran beads of polyurethane construction adhesive along the top edge of the insulation and under the vertical seams of the backer, and stuffed the top edge of the backer up under the termite shield. I couldn't find any 3" x 3/16" masonry screws, so I drilled 3/16" (I think) holes with a long masonry bit and used 3 1/2" deck screws. The holes were just the right size to catch the edges of the screw threads. A few times, I had to stick a shim in the hole. The Hardibacker has held up ok for 3 years, now, but it may be starting to swell. I think I would use cement board if I had it to do over.