  We prove that an almost zero-dimensional space $X$ is an Erd\H{o}s space
factor if and only if $X$ has a Sierpi\'{n}ski stratification of C-sets. We
apply this characterization to spaces which are countable unions of C-set
Erd\H{o}s space factors. We show that the Erd\H{o}s space $\mathfrak E$ is
unstable by giving strongly $\sigma$-complete and nowhere $\sigma$-complete
examples of almost zero-dimensional $F_{\sigma\delta}$-spaces which are not
Erd\H{o}s space factors. This answers a question by Dijkstra and van Mill.
