Chapter 18 - Entrance, Roof & Stucco

The Phoenix is Rising! We started to completely transform the front of the house when we built the turret. Remember Chapter 15? Steve furthered the entrance development by adding a beautiful cedar roof. He managed to cut plywood to create a ceiling, balancing the sheets on his head while he nailed them to the top. Then while climbing up and down the 2-storied scaffolding, he measured and cut each individual plank of cedar. Although it was time-consuming and strenuous, it turned out gorgeous and elegant. The entrance is just waiting for the rock work and pavers for the floor.

 

Next, the old leaky roof was on the hit-list. The red tiles of yester-year were removed and new darker modern tiles were substituted. Here is something completely unknown to me before but when you remove the heavy tiles from the roof, the house actually expands and relaxes with the weight off its shoulders. This relaxation actually causes some problems like cracking ceilings, split walls and creaking floors. So, the new tiles have to be set on the roof immediately to maintain the pressure. The roofers did not actually lay down the tile in order but just in stacks until the stucco had been updated.

The roof line was extended to even up the face of the house

Roof tiles weighing down the house and waiting to be placed

Time for the Stucco renovation - The outside of the house had a very old-fashion and dated stucco that lends itself to the Spanish look of the original house. One of the first things that we wanted to do was get rid of that terrible stucco, and it has taken us six months to get to the place where we can give the house a facelift. To prepare the house for the new finer stucco finish, all of the new construction had to have chicken-wire put on to hold the stucco. The proper term for this is lathe. Once the lathe is up, then the old stucco had to be sanded down. Next step, the gray scratch coat covers the entire house, covering the old stucco, the holes and chip outs and the new construction.

When the gray scratch coat went up, that is when we saw a new house not just a renovation. Gone was the old white rundown house and suddenly a new unique house emerged. It was exciting! The final stucco coat was the finish, a fine sand texture finish that definitely modernized the home.

Chapter 17 - The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Early on in our renovation, we realized that we would have to take down some drywall. The house is over 30 years old and for most of that time, it had been a rental home. So, the walls were covered in mismatching wallpaper, layers and layers of paint with whole lot of bangs and holes. We had a very hard time salvaging the walls as we tried taking down the wallpaper and ended up ripping the drywall as well.



Another problem we had with the walls was the electrical work that had to be updated. During our preliminary electrical inspection, the city inspector decided that ALL of the electrical wiring had to be updated to today's code. When the electricians began running new wire through out the house, a lot more ceilings and walls had to come down as they cut large portions of wallboard all over. Approximately 85% of the house was gutted right down to the studs.

The electrical and plumbing inspections passed perfectly and we had to start putting the house back together. Steve replaced and added insulation where it was needed. It was a miserable job since the temperatures were still in the 100's. Heat, insulation and dust made this very nasty business.

We figured that drywall can not be that difficult to hang - just put the board on the wall and drill in some screws, right? Well, that is right but
not so easy. It takes talent to line up the drywall with the studs and get the seams right. We forged a head and did several rooms, impressing ourselves if I do say so, until a sub-contractor came to bid on the mud, plaster and sanding part of drywall. He gave us a bid for everything, including hanging the drywall for so cheap and so fast, we just set our drills down right then and there. These guys were amazing. What would have taken us a week or two, took them 3 days.
With all of the drywall up, the house feels like a house again. (But I miss being able to take short-cuts and walk through walls). Next, here comes the stilt-walking mudders. These labors strap on stilts and walk around the house, taping the drywall seams and then adding plaster mud. After that drys, they sand the plaster down for a smooth finished wall.