Benard-Marangoni instability, with coupled gravity and surface tension effects, in an evaporating liquid layer surmounted by its vapor and an inert gas is investigated theoretically. We show that this system can be described by a model that consists in the liquid layer equations plus the diffusion equation for the vapor in the gas (the so-called 1.5-sided model) and that this model is equivalent to a one-sided model when the vapor mass fraction field can be considered as quasi-stationary, provided that the equivalent Biot number is a nonlocal function of the interface temperature. A comparison of weakly nonlinear results for the 1.5-sided model with a previous one-sided model [M. Dondlinger, J. Margerit, P.C. Dauby, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 283 (2) (2005) 522-532] that considered a Biot number depending on the wavenumber evaluated at the threshold is performed. Very good agreement is found between both models. For this reason, the present analysis can also be considered as a detailed theoretical justification for the use of a one-sided model in the study of evaporative thermoconvection. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.