ASTM C1063-2014c sets the minimum lathing and furring requirements for interior and exterior Portland cement-based plaster, and pairs directly with companion standards C926 (plaster application) and C841 (interior lathing and furring) [S1].
For buried potable-water lines, AWWA C603-2005 — first issued 27 January 1964 and re-approved 16 January 2005 — defines installation of asbestos-cement pressure pipe, with an effective date of 1 May 2005 [S2].
Scope and Governing Documents
ASTM C1063 covers the minimum requirements for lathing and furring installed to receive Portland cement-based plaster in interior and exterior applications, and explicitly defers plaster mix and application rules to C926 and interior lathing rules to C841 [S1]. The 2014c revision updated terminology and clarified referenced fastener specifications including C954 (steel drill screws for 0.033 in. / 0.84 mm to 0.112 in. / 2.84 mm steel studs) and C1002 (self-piercing tapping screws for wood or steel studs) [S1]. Earlier revisions — C1063-2008 [S5] and C1063-2012c [S3] — used the same numbering framework, so specifiers transitioning from older project manuals only need to recheck fastener thickness limits and any new referenced standards. Engineers planning facade or soffit work involving special cement plasters should anchor their substrate design on C1063 before moving to mix selection.
Referenced Material Standards
C1063's Section 2 chains roughly 18 referenced documents that define the base metals, fasteners and PVC compounds allowed in the assembly: A641/A641M (galvanized carbon steel wire), A653/A653M (galvanized or galvannealed hot-dip steel sheet), B69 (rolled zinc), B221 (aluminum extrusions), C847 (metal lath), C933 (welded wire lath), C1032 (woven wire plaster base), D1784 (rigid PVC and CPVC compounds) and D4216 (PVC building products compounds) [S1]. For the acoustic branch, Test Method E90 governs airborne sound transmission loss of partitions when a specific STC rating is required [S1]. Fire-rated assemblies fall outside C1063 and must reference tested assembly reports — C1063 only states that "details of construction shall be in accordance with reports of fire tests" that meet the imposed rating [S1].
Definitions That Drive Detailing
C1063's Section 3 defines four terms that directly control detailing: barrier wall (blocks water to the interior), building enclosure (the system barrier between environments), control joint (accommodates plaster shrinkage along predetermined lines), and drainage plane (surface between cladding back and water barrier front) [S1]. Each definition corresponds to a measurable detailing decision — control joint spacing, drainage plane thickness, and water-resistive barrier selection — that the contractor must execute. The 2012c edition [S3] carried the same four definitions, so legacy project documents using the older term set remain compatible with current revisions.
Fastener Selection by Stud Thickness
C1063 splits its fastener story by substrate: C954 covers steel drill screws used to attach gypsum panel products or metal plaster bases to steel studs ranging from 0.033 in. (0.84 mm) to 0.112 in. (2.84 mm) in thickness, while C1002 governs self-piercing tapping screws for wood studs or steel studs [S1]. Specifiers must match screw type to stud gauge — a 0.033 in. stud is roughly 20-gauge, and a 0.112 in. stud is approximately 11-gauge — and verify the screw specification on the submittal before ordering. The companion C841 specification (referenced inside C1063) governs interior lathing layout and horizontal stiffener spacing, but is not reprinted within C1063 itself [S1].
AWWA C603 Asbestos-Cement Pressure Pipe
AWWA C603-2005 covers installation of asbestos-cement pressure pipe, with an effective date of 1 May 2005, a Board of Directors approval on 16 January 2005, and ANSI approval on 25 February 2005 [S2]. The standard describes minimum installation requirements and intentionally leaves option selection to the user: "AWWA standards usually contain options that must be evaluated by the user of the standard. Until each optional feature is specified by the user, the product or service is not fully defined" [S2]. AWWA also states that its standards are entirely voluntary, are not product endorsements, and do not include AWWA testing or certification of any product [S2]. ANSI requires a reaffirm, revise or withdraw action no later than five years from publication, so specifiers using C603 must track the next AWWA action notice in Journal AWWA [S2].
Comparison: Plaster Lathing vs Pressure Pipe Installation
Decision-makers choosing between the two standard families can line up the key criteria as follows. C1063 is an ASTM specification (fixed designation with year-of-revision suffix) targeting above-grade envelope work and lathing; C603 is an AWWA standard targeting buried water service. C1063 chains roughly 18 referenced ASTM material standards covering steel, zinc, aluminum and PVC [S1]; C603 is a standalone installation standard with no chained material specifications in the published scope. C1063 references C954 and C1002 fasteners with explicit stud-thickness bands in inches and millimetres [S1]; C603 leaves pipe, joint and bedding options to the specifying engineer. Fire and acoustic assemblies in C1063 defer to fire-test reports and E90 transmission-loss tests [S1], while C603 defers joint and bedding details to the user's project specification [S2].
Limitations and Failure Modes
Two failure modes recur when these standards are misapplied. On C1063 jobs, mismatched fasteners — for example C1002 screws driven into 0.112 in. (2.84 mm) steel studs when C954 drill screws are specified — pull out under plaster load because the thread design and point geometry differ between specifications [S1]. On C603 jobs, the voluntary-option structure means the specifier must explicitly choose joint type, trench bedding class, and test-pressure protocol; omitting those choices leaves the contractor free to substitute and triggers non-conformance reports at hydrotest. AWWA cautions that "American National Standards are subject to periodic review, and users are cautioned to obtain the latest editions" [S2], and C1063's footnote "1" marks the standard as approved for use by agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense [S1], so federal projects must verify the active DoD-adopted revision.
Sourcing, Document Currency and Adjacent Specs
Specifiers should pull the current C1063 revision directly from ASTM International and the current C603 from AWWA rather than from third-party document mirrors; the research corpus on 2026-07-12 lists the 2014c revision as the most recent C1063 iteration [S1], with prior revisions 2014b [S4], 2012c [S3] and 2008 [S5] still indexed on the same platform. For contractors planning corrugated metal panel backing beneath cement plaster facades, C1063's drainage-plane definition governs the gap between corrugated back and water-resistive barrier, so gauge and profile choice in the metal panel specification must be coordinated against C1063 Section 3.2.4 [S1]. For projects that combine plaster lathing with metal-framed soffits, fastener selection against C954 / C1002 will also govern the perforated metal sheet trim used as a vented reveal, since the same stud-thickness bands apply.
Trackable signals: watch for the next AWWA C603 reaffirm/revise/withdraw notice in Journal AWWA (ANSI's five-year window runs from the 1 May 2005 effective date [S2]) and verify whether ASTM Committee C11 has issued a C1063-2014d or 202x revision superseding the 2014c edition indexed 2026-07-01 [S1].
For component-level specifications, see linear guide, and crossed roller guide.