Stucco- Last coat the movie

Good, bad or indifferent that is the color and texture the house will be.  This is me spraying on cement stucco. This is the old school style. Made with portland cement, lime , sand and dye for the color.   Mixed in a mortar mixture 300 lbs at a time. Getting roughly 10-15 feet of wall done a day.  We spray the stucco on and then smooth it out.  Wait for it to dry a little and  press any cracks out.  Once the Stucco is done we will put the juniper trim on around the doors and windows.

Finishing up some inside details

   Working on finish work.    Here are some photos of the closets we finished.  Still have closet doors to make for the closet in our bedroom.  We are planning on a knotty alder barn doors.  The other closet is off our bathroom with a door to the laundry room.     The laundry room window was our first window to finish.  We did this so we could figure out what we were doing.  We are very happy with the way it turned out, only 10 more to go.   The stain and the knotty alder match the trim and the doors.   Lastly, I soldered up the first leaded glass window , to go between the bathroom and laundry/entry.  They let light in and give some privacy.  Took forever in the evenings and off time to figure out the thing but there it is.  Kinda matches the glasswork in the entry doors.  They measure 16 x 32 inches  one down three more to go. hopefully they all match,  more or less.. 


 

Live in the New House has Started

We have been in the house 4 months now , sure is nice to have a house again.  Still working on a lot of projects for the house.

Lately it has been linen closets and clothes closets.   We lined the linen closets with wood and made adjustable shelving.  With those done we will start this week on the clothes closets.  

We have had a few bugs to work out of the ground source heat pump system but, they will get resolved and with Goejerry's help we will get the kinks out over the winter.  Sure is nice to have heated floors the room stays warm down by the floor. The air at the top of the vaulted ceilings isn't much warmer than the room, only degree or two warmer.  

As in this photo we fired up the wood stove just for fun this weekend nothing beats the heat off a wood stove.   We installed the baseboard downstairs and will install window trim when done with the closets,  this will take some time with the width of the window sill. We will join 3, 4inch wide boards together to try and control warpage.

With our first Thanksgiving and Christmas behind us now looking forward to making great memories.   In the spring we will finish up the stucco and outside window trim and get the porch and sidewalks poured.

Coming Together

Fall is coming fast so before the endless rain gets here we are working on the big parts of the house that don't yet have juniper siding on them.  Getting true board and batten siding up takes alot of time I am sure glad our old boom ladder is holding on makes it much easier to get up there than the ladder  or scaffolding.   We bring juniper up from the barn where it is been waiting for the last year or two and paint all sides with a rosewood oil then measure cut and drill the attaching holes so it doesn't crack as bad.  We are done with the east, we are done with the west, almost done with the south side. Then off to the north side where the carport is.   It has been a real learning curve alot of fitting around things.  but I see the end of it in sight if the weather holds out.   Next spring we will add the last coat of stucco then the juniper window and door trim outside.

Thought I would ad some photo's of the mechanical room still working out some bugs but we now have heating and cooling all supplied with the two ground source heat pumps,  the radiant floor heat is also up and running sure is nice to have a working thermostat.   Lots of piping in  the mechanical room.

 

Still Finishing

June 14, 2017


The loft floor is complete and looks really good.  We used a solid bamboo.  Tough stuff the bamboo is shreaded then cooked to give it is brown color then added resin and pressed into a harder than wood product.  It is bamboo all the way through meaning in the future it could be sanded and  refinished.    the floor-wall trim is all that is left to do upstairs. The trim is alder stained to come close to the other  wood work in the house..


  We chose oak stairs over bamboo because the oak was seventy percent cheaper and is a nice product to work with .  We didn't use any moldings on the stair or risers where they meet the walls to give it a simple clean look.  We used the same stain as everything else so the look would come out close to the other woodwork in the house.    The handrail will go up next just a round piece of oak with stainless steel brackets.


The bathrooms now have the toilets installed and the cabinets , countertops and sinks are done.  We used Formica with wood trim on the countertops.   Still have not turned the water on will do that on a day I feel like chasing drips.


Still refinishing the concrete floors to try and get back the original finish.  So with gloves and a mask on I scrub the old wax and sealer until it becomes clear then I reseal where needed and two coats of wax  looks pretty good.


With pouring some samples of concrete countertop I was not satisfied with the finish. So, we decided to use the same green colored Formica on the kitchen countertops with the alder trim  that we had used in the bathrooms. In the kitchen we made the Formica backsplash go from the countertop to the base of the upper cabinets .   We are very happy with the results.    


A little more work in the mechanical room and the hot water hearer should get fired up. Not to far off to an inspection.

Starting Finishes

March 12, 2017

    Hello all again,   has been a wet winter here with lots of rain/snow finally had a dry week in feb to get on the roof and work on the cupalo siding.   finished up both of them , it lets me sleep better knowing they are protected from the weather.   on a similar note the sealant i put on the chimney rock has been a great success with no water coming in.   the water in the past was soaking into the cement rock and seeping down inside the block making a mess.

    we picked up the bamboo flooring last month to install in the loft and let it sit in the house for a couple of weeks to let it acclimate to the house before gluing it down.  this flooring is shreaded bamboo that is glued and pressed back together into a tongue and grooved plank.   it is also cooked a bit to bring out the color by carmelizing the sugar.   it is very hard i hope it holds up to life on the farm.   only the molding at the wall to flooring is left.

   we are still wiring plugs and now light fixtures with alot to go.   in the photos you can see some of the hanging lights  we are fitting them with led bulbs. .

   the cupboard and vanities are here from  F&C cabinets we chose knotty alder with a nutmeg stain and as you can see still have some work to do.  

Heated Up!

                         
      Finally have our power hooked up to the house.   After using a temp service pole over the years we are at the point where we can install our permanent underground power.  So, we dug a trench from the power pole to the transformer then on to the meter-base at the house.  The power company came out and removed the old transformers on the pole and installed a new one on the ground outside the house making things look a bit cleaner.  So now we have started up some of the plug ins in side the house.
      The sheet-rockers had me heat up the house to help dry out the sheet-rock and mud so we used a couple of 1500 watt electric heaters and a dehumidifier and things warmed up and dried out nicely.  After some spot repairs they primed all the sheet-rock then added orange peel texture.  Now that it is been drying again we will be ready to start painting next week.  We used Borlaug const. to install the sheet-rock and we were a perfect match they accommodated all our needs and did a great job making the sheet-rock look good.   Onto the paint.
      Lastly we finally have the wood stove fired up.   It sure is nice to sit on plastic lawn chairs in front of the insert and feel nice dry heat coming at you.  The smell of a wood stove burning also makes things feel more like home.

    ~Merry Christmas, from Doug, Ruth, and Helen~