~ flipNdesign ~: stucco

So much has happened since I last wrote. I have emerged from the first trimester of pregnancy, and have more energy to start helping at the house again. There was a while where I was so tired and didn't have much to offer in the way of physical labor input. I have finished my school semester a couple of days ago, so my focus has turned to packing and preparing the house for us to move. The last I wrote, we had just embarked on a small vaycay to Myrtle Beach for a few days with a stop to Greenville, SC for a cousin's wedding on the way home. We got to see many of Gabe's side of the family, which was a treat--including some special bonding time with two other pregnant gals-my sister-in-law and cousin.

So, that puts us back a month to the second week of April, when it started getting warmer outside and could begin some of the outdoor projects that had been held off for so long!

One of our contractors worked on finishing up the exterior window and door trim:

Notice that the only trim that still needed to be done were the windows enclosed in existing stucco siding. The other windows were trimmed last summer when we had the lapp siding put up.

Don't worry, the existing stucco stains will all be painted over soon!!

Here is the back patio door trimmed out:

Front door trimmed out

The next weekend, I was gone on an all day field trip to New Jersey on Friday, so I couldn't be there while Gabe worked on paining prep for the upstairs. We had planned for some friends to come out on Saturday to paint the walls of the upstairs rooms before the carpet would be laid. Gabe worked to do a final patch, sand and wipe down job before our friends would come the next day. I think he managed to go over the walls three times--so the walls were very ready for paint!

We had 4 friends come out: David & Angela:

Joseph:

And John, who had been around to help a couple times before:

I didn't stick around while they were painting just taking precautions not to be exposed to any toxic fumes while pregnant. Even though the paint is low-VOC (volatile organic compounds), I still wanted to be careful.

But before I left, I did take a few pictures of some of the other progress that had been made while we were gone:

The fireplace tile installation was finished:

Dad had worked on the stairwell rail balusters:

Trim was finished downstairs:

Outside, Rene, our subcontractor, had started in on patching the holes in the stucco, something that had to be done before we could re-paint the stucco sections:

Looking at where the stucco meets the stone foundation on the road side of the house, we saw that it needed a little bit of patching before we could add the trim. Rene added some concrete behind the trim so it would remain varmint-proof:

Next Saturday, we got to see the gutters that had been installed during the week:

The electricians had installed the exterior light fixtures:

Lots a-happenin'!! We had a parking lot full of cars today with a couple of different contractors at the house. The painters were upstairs painting the trim and doors:

Gabe and Dad worked to finalize the soffit above the cabinets since there were a few gaps that needed addressing:

Right side

Left side

I have been doing some sewing lately, so I left to do that. Before I left, I got a shot of the lattice work under the porch getting started:

The next weekend, we got to see some MAJOR changes that had taken place.

Remember this??

Now this:

Exterior stucco has been painted!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting for this for a long time.

Unpainted last fall:

December 8th, 2012

November 24th, 2012

And now:

Before:

October 10th, 2012

And now:

Woo hoo!!! Consider me excited. :D

Things are really happening now. Like glamorous things. Like windows going in, siding going up and roofing being applied! We are so excited. As chilly fall and winter days are approaching, we are working to get the house "buttoned up".

The last I wrote, we had just received a delivery of windows. Well, they didn't stay in their boxes for long!! A couple weekends ago, we started on filling the 6 window holes that were open to the elements. These are the new build windows. We are waiting to replace and install windows where the old ones are still in place because #1: that is something that can wait, #2: it will be a lot of work to resize the window openings. We first had to focus on the many unglamorous things that had to happen before we could get the siding and roofing put on.

While I worked to keep the site clean and well documented :), Dad & Gabe started inserting windows on the east wall:

First the kitchen window:

And then they worked to fit in the bathroom window under the stairs and the two windows at the stair tower. Here is Dad working to level it up:

The finished product:

These were small and easy compared to some of the ones to come! Next is the master bathroom window, which is pretty sizable. They first had to resize the hole:

And then one (Gabe) got on the outside, on a tall ladder, and the other on the inside (Dad) stayed. Mom & I were there at the end to help guide it into place.

Lastly that Saturday, we got the master bedroom window into place. Efforts were made to resize the hole again, and make sure that no ones fingers got smushed in the process! This window is HUGE!!

We first had to make sure it could fit up the stairs....

Gabe preparing the window opening:

Us working together to get it in place:

Ta da!!

This took just about all day!

Here is an exterior shot of all the windows added to the east wall:

Gabe had a thing or two more to do on the roof preparing for the roofing material:

And then we called it a day.

By the time we came Friday of last weekend, the Hardi-plank siding had arrived. HVAC duct work had also been completed:

How exciting!

Gabe worked to clean up the edges of the existing stucco in preparation for the trim and siding that was applied the next weekend.

No doubt that was dusty work! Gabe ended up with snowy hair after that. :) And a busted blade, since it wasn't just stucco, there was a metal mesh layer as well.

While Gabe worked on this, Dad and I undertook the placement of the exterior lighting escutcheons on the back of the house, ones that flank the back porch doors.

We also determined the location of the range hood vent to place a hole/escutcheon there too. A header had to be placed for this hole to be cut:

Then our dear friends came out to visit us and see our house project! What fun.

The next day, Saturday, we continued to finish up & paint the escutcheon plates for venting and electrical outlets, so that the siding could be hung around them that next week. Insulation of the soffit needed to happen too before the siding could be done, so Dad made sure that got in place. Here's a pic of a few of the escutcheon plates before I sanded and painted them:

Here I am painting one of the plates:

I was working on removing mortar from our old chimney bricks when I got a call from my brother announcing his engagement! What excitement to add to our day on site!

Dad had built a crawl space door, so Gabe and Dad worked to get the door to fit the opening and attached the hinges.

Gabe grinds down what was in the way of the opening before installing the door:

I went home a little early that day to work on some design work. Pictures of the finished door installed can be seen a little later.

In the coming week we really started to see progress: siding and roofing were going up!!!

Here are some pictures Dad sent us during the week as progress was being made:

METAL ROOFING!!!! yay!

SIDING!!! yay!

Dad sent out a mayday on Friday morning before we got there about the trim for the east windows. Yikes, somewhere communication got mixed up! Yes, we will have trim around the windows. It looks like they will have to take down a few rows and get it right.

We got to the house around 2 pm that afternoon (last Friday) and investigated the situation for ourselves.

From the road the roof can be clearly seen. Porch demo will be a project for next week. Once that comes off, it will look a little shabby and incomplete for a while, until we get the new porch and roof put on. This needs to happen rather soon and quickly, since we will be moving the door over to the right about 5 feet to give the living room a little bit more usable space. Hence, the porch will also move over about 8 feet, becoming about a foot from the east corner of the house. The way we will arrange the stairs and decking of the porch will reveal more of the existing rubble stone foundation on the facade. We will be replacing the old cement blocks for new supports that will be dug deep into the ground.

So, when we arrived, the roofers were there, as well as the men working on the siding, and the plumbers, getting a rough idea of what needs to be done. We established that the bulk head in the kitchen is getting reduced from 10" to 4"!! yay, more space in the kitchen! But, honestly, when I see it, I will believe it. :)

It can be seen in the above picture the difference between the existing stucco siding and the new lapp siding. Realistically, the color difference is really very minimal, but when all is said and done, we will still be patching and re-painting the stucco to match the new siding. The crawl space door Dad constructed can also be seen here.

Gabe's first task that day was to trim down the stucco seen above so that a trim piece could be fit in to the front facade.

Good to see our sub-contractors at work today!!

Gabe also worked to patch a hole to the crawl space that apparently a snake had made it's way into. He only got so far when we realized we needed water to mix the cement! We stuffed the hole and will continue on it another day.

After that, we got to work replacing the window of the utility closet, our first attempt at replacing an old existing window opening. This one needed to be done first in order for the HVAC closet to be finished in good time. We had to resize this opening as well.

This is what it looked like at the very beginning (January 7th, 2012):