Stucco and Doors

Now that the sheetrock has been installed, the first layer of stucco was applied two weeks ago. Apparently, the weight of the sheetrock moves the exterior of the house enough that stucco is done afterwards to reduce cracking.

Last Saturday the finish coat of stucco was started. This layer has the finish applied, a rough texture with lots of rough spots visible.

I found a house to serve as an example in a high-end neighborhood on Bluff avenue. The contractor said this was an older style finish. That's fine, because I really don't like the style in vogue now where they make it as smooth as possible. It's so smooth it reminds me of the Grenache melted chocolate frosting they use on Cold Stone ice cream cakes. That look makes the house look like a mission and that is not the style I'm after. The rough look, I think, fits better with the rustic style we're going after.

In strategic places we'll be adding manufactured stone made by El Dorado so the exterior won't be all stucco. The main corners of the house, the outside wall behind the great room's entertainment center, the bay window wall and the outside wall of Rob's bedroom, and the first floor exterior around the garage doors will have stone. It's impressive how real the stone looks. They have multiple different sized and colored pieces which are placed by hand like real stone. Be picked a rough, irregular shaped, style called "Country Rubble" in a color style, Bella, that has the various shades of rock we see around the property. There are even some pieces with rust marks, just like we see on some of our real rocks. This same rock will also be used for the wood stove areas and some accents in the house. The "rock" may be delivered Friday for installation starting next week.

The doors were also installed last week. We have lots of French doors with solid glass centers, for the front door, and both master bedrooms. That will give us great views from these rooms. We also have two cafe doors to the outside that have glass in the tob half of the door. This way we'll get more light into the lower laundry and the lower masterbath. The remaining interior doors have verticle slats in them which seems to fit better in a country house like ours. We found out that they are so new our house is the first in California to get them and only the second house in the west.