It was nice to see the sun today after a few cold, rainy days. That also meant the stucco guys could finally get started. Dane called me this afternoon to explain that they needed to add some kind of trim to tie together the original stucco around the bottom of the house with the new stucco, since the old stucco varies quite a bit in depth, and is mostly thicker than the new stucco will be. He was going to send me a drawing, but then we decided it would be easier for me to just go over to the house and take a look.
When I got there a little after 2 pm, they had already built the scaffolding on the north face of the house and applied a layer of building paper. John was working on securing our electrical and gas meters.
Rob explained that they had installed metal flashing around the top edge of the old stucco to prevent any water seepage, so they'll need to cover it with some simple trim to hide the transition. For the most part, this will probably be hidden by landscaping, since it's only about 3 feet off the ground.
John drew me a picture to show what it would look like. The little stick figure on the front porch represents John holding a level.
Rob mentioned that an inspector had come that morning to do the framing inspection. Apparently he was very impressed with what he saw -- which is always nice to hear. Inside the house, Jim was stapling up duct insulation between the floor joists so the radiant floor heat would be reflected up to the rooms above. Rob thought that spray foam would make the system difficult to access if it needed repairs -- which could happen soon enough if someone accidentally puts a nail through a tube while the hardwood floors are installed -- so he came up with this idea. It's a good idea, but very labor-intensive. Jim spent most of the afternoon cutting rolls of insulation into strips, and only managed to staple a few pieces up before it was time to call it a day.
I wanted to check out the back yard, but both sides of the house were blocked and the decking on the porch was gone yet again, so I asked Paul if there was anything we could stick on top of it so I could get outside without having to balance on 2 inches of wood. He found a long board about a foot wide and nailed it down for me so I could "walk the plank" out the back door to the steps. The whole back of the house is covered with scaffolding, too.
I checked on my rosebushes, which had been pruned and relocated to the far corner of the back yard, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were still alive. I just hope they can handle being moved back again when the house is done.
Here's what the window well looks like from the outside. When we re-build our driveway, we'll have to move it over a foot or so to clear the wall.
These were the original windows from the living room. They were the only windows that were in decent enough shape to re-use -- all the double-hung windows fell apart when they removed them. These are casement windows, but had been painted shut for many years, so they were in better condition. We were hoping to re-use some of the original windows when we re-build the garage, but I'm not sure these will work unless we install them sideways...
And here are the bricks from our back patio, neatly stacked and ready to be re-used to create a new patio. Despite all the work it requires, I miss having a yard, especially now that it's springtime and the weather is warming up.
It will be interesting to watch the stucco installation process, which could take several weeks. I'll try to take lots of photos.
When I got there a little after 2 pm, they had already built the scaffolding on the north face of the house and applied a layer of building paper. John was working on securing our electrical and gas meters.
Rob explained that they had installed metal flashing around the top edge of the old stucco to prevent any water seepage, so they'll need to cover it with some simple trim to hide the transition. For the most part, this will probably be hidden by landscaping, since it's only about 3 feet off the ground.
John drew me a picture to show what it would look like. The little stick figure on the front porch represents John holding a level.
Rob mentioned that an inspector had come that morning to do the framing inspection. Apparently he was very impressed with what he saw -- which is always nice to hear. Inside the house, Jim was stapling up duct insulation between the floor joists so the radiant floor heat would be reflected up to the rooms above. Rob thought that spray foam would make the system difficult to access if it needed repairs -- which could happen soon enough if someone accidentally puts a nail through a tube while the hardwood floors are installed -- so he came up with this idea. It's a good idea, but very labor-intensive. Jim spent most of the afternoon cutting rolls of insulation into strips, and only managed to staple a few pieces up before it was time to call it a day.
I wanted to check out the back yard, but both sides of the house were blocked and the decking on the porch was gone yet again, so I asked Paul if there was anything we could stick on top of it so I could get outside without having to balance on 2 inches of wood. He found a long board about a foot wide and nailed it down for me so I could "walk the plank" out the back door to the steps. The whole back of the house is covered with scaffolding, too.
I checked on my rosebushes, which had been pruned and relocated to the far corner of the back yard, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were still alive. I just hope they can handle being moved back again when the house is done.
Here's what the window well looks like from the outside. When we re-build our driveway, we'll have to move it over a foot or so to clear the wall.
These were the original windows from the living room. They were the only windows that were in decent enough shape to re-use -- all the double-hung windows fell apart when they removed them. These are casement windows, but had been painted shut for many years, so they were in better condition. We were hoping to re-use some of the original windows when we re-build the garage, but I'm not sure these will work unless we install them sideways...
And here are the bricks from our back patio, neatly stacked and ready to be re-used to create a new patio. Despite all the work it requires, I miss having a yard, especially now that it's springtime and the weather is warming up.
It will be interesting to watch the stucco installation process, which could take several weeks. I'll try to take lots of photos.
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