Mud and Stucco

Lots of little things have been happening this week.

The Sheetrock is pretty much done and the finishers have started mudding at an alarming rate. They had the floor covered, taped and had started the ceiling and mid wall tape before I left with mom this morning at 10:00 a.m. to go visit the Dr and do some fun shopping.



This is mom's living room all mudded. They will adding bull nose trim to all the corners and and egg shell finish to the walls.

I came home from work yesterday morning to a big surprise. I knew they were working on the wall outside my kitchen but I didn't know they were tearing out my kitchen right at that moment.

I came home and my upper cabinets were gone. I spent the rest of the day madly trying to box up the rest of my kitchen so they can take out that wall tomorrow morning. They finished the ceiling insulation today so we won't freeze to death tomorrow when the wall comes tumbling down.
Time to break out the bread machine and the crock pot for dinners. My kitchen is going to be out of commission very soon. YIKES!
Jeddie was very worried about the wall shaking.

He really freaked out when he saw the saw blade come through the wall.


When mom and I got home at about 5:30 tonight we found a real treat!! The stucco man came and start to apply the final coat of stucco. Mom was really not liking the gray under coat. She said it looked just a little too "San Quinton".

Here I caught her checking out the new color. It was still wet.

Here you can see the "San Quinton" gray and the "pancake" stucco side by side. The new color is fabulous but will take a couple of days to get used to.

While in Joplin today we checked out the wood stove store (Joplin Fire Place) They had some very beautiful stoves there. They guys there were really great and asked what she needed one for and what her intent was in using it and quickly directed us to the two stoves that would suit her needs.

The buck stove model 21 is nice and small and easy to clean up and to use. It's drawback is that it only has a 6 hour burn time and heat time.
The Hearthstone stove was gorgeous and I think someone fell in love with it. It is a soap stone stove that will hold soak up the heat and radiate it out much longer. It's burn time is 8 hours and it's heat time is 12. That would keep the home warm through the night. The house does have a heat and air system that is fabulous but you can't been the warming capability of a crackling fire. I love the windows in the doors. I love to see the fire burn.
This will probably require a lot more investigating but I know which one mom likes best. It is a thing of beauty. The stove they had on the floor had shinny black enamel cast iron. The one in the picture has the sea foam enamel. I think mom likes that color better. It is beautiful. I know what I want to save my pennies to get. They had a slightly larger one that I am loving very much. Someday.

Stone

The stone work and stucco are well on their way now.


Mom opted for faux stone at the corners of the house. They are made of concrete and look like river stone in colors that mom chose.

This is what they look like from underneath.

Some of the stones are specially shaped to go around corners.



Here is some detail at my front door.


They have also been putting up the sheet rock.

This is in mom's store room upstairs.


This is a close-up of one of her cubbies. (she wanted to see what they look like)


They are almost done with the downstairs now too.


Here is an outside shot of the work so far. It is looking quite marvelous.
Now just to pick cabinets, flooring, and paint colors.

Fluff and Stuff

Ok Ok here are some more pictures.

Since my last post, here are the things that have been going on.

1. Stucco is started.


They had to put the mesh stuff on the walls for the stucco to stick to. It has felt paper underneath to help reduce moisture. You can see the little bit of the stove pipe sticking out of the chimney.

2. The insulation guys came and put fluff and stuff everywhere.

After reviewing all the insulation options available, mom opted for the sprayed foam. It had the best R factor for what we had to choose from. The spray it on the walls and it puffs up to 100 times in size.

Mom had it put in the ceiling upstairs because it is the only efficient insulation for the type trusses we used. She also had it sprayed in all the exterior walls.


This is the room upstairs. It was amazing how silent it was up there. I couldn't even hear the crickets outside. The rest of the house is really quiet too. (if you notice there is a nice stack of sheet rock just waiting to be put up on Monday)


They put batts everywhere they couldn't do the foam. All the walls of the garage have insulation to protect the houses from the heat and cold.

3. I saved the best for last!!



Eric is now our hero because he was actually able to get a dumpster so we can start cleaning up in earnest. What is so special about that? Well since the tornado of May 10th it has been near impossible to get a dumpster here. Lots of the construction crews have been near impossible to get too. Everyone has been backed up this year trying to get roofs on the tornado victims and building new houses to replace those blown away.

New Doors

Yes I know we are over due for a post here. The work that has been going on isn't all that photo worthy. Just more electrical, heat and air and stuff like that. However, there were a few interesting bits this past week and I will post those pictures now.



Saturday, Diana came over and we cleaned up the work site and sorted all the trash. Sorry, I have too much of Dad in me and had to save what is still useful for kindling, scrap wood, and such. We even saved the old shingles and siding from my house to re-do the chicken coop, very Dad. We burned the boxes that were left.

Eric worked on getting some of the new doors set as we cleaned up the place.
Front Door

Laundry/Mud room door. We recycled the window from the girl's room upstairs for this room.

Back door off mom's kitchen to her patio and porch.

Pocket Door in mom's Pantry.

The stucco man also brought samples of the stucco colors we were interested in and the rocks for mom to choose from.

Theses are the colors we picked for samples.

We had over 300 to choose from.

These are the colors of stone we had to choose from.


So.... What color do you think she picked?...










She picked this Rosy beige color called Pancake. It was narrowed down to this one and the yellow one in the middle.

She picked river stone in all the colors shown above. They are going to be really beautiful the the blacks, browns, reds, yellows, and greys. I can't wait to see what it looks like done.

Electricity

Things are moving quickly on mom's house but they are little things so the pictures of big changes are not going to be as often.

Here is what they have been up to this week.



Soffit is up on the porch.





They put the floor in the room above the garage.





Heat and air ducts are in and the can lights have been started.





The electrician is working his magic hooking up the house with plenty outlets and lights per the wishes of the queen herself (mom, not me you silly!)

Roof Done!

I know that it isn't quite done in this picture but it is done now.

I love the color mom chose. Grandma Wood had a green roof too.

We will be putting in a wood stove in Mom's living room. The house will not be only heated by wood, the stove is there for back-up in case of ice storms. No heat and air systems work without power but the wood stove does. :o)

Well Eric has been thinking of a way to have it there without having it detract from the look of the house. Well he came up with a plan. He has made a chimney to cover up the pipe that comes out of the roof. He will cover it with river rock (the stone mom chose) and make it look like a fire place. The outside wall of the house will have river stone too so it look like it goes together. It is going to be fabulous!!

The exterior of the house is going to be stucco with river rock at the corners. The stucco will be done in free style and will look very Old World. I can't wait to see it done. It will be fabulous. Mom is looking at rosy beige colors. They look like the stone colors from Southern Utah. The stucco man will be here sometime soon to bring samples so she can make a choice.



Here are some other things that got done this past week.





This is the inside chimney for the stove.





The upstairs is decked and now has half walls put up to make the stairway safe. Mom and I both have major problems with open stairs. It makes us feel panicky and we can't go up or down without a wall to at least touch.





The bathroom under the stairs was framed. Eric continued the line of the ceiling where the sink will go so it works together and doesn't look weird.



They are working on the soffit on the porch this week and I heard rumors of electricians and heating and air people. It is starting to move together quickly.

I met a man upon the stair.....

.... I met a man who wasn't there.

It rained all day yesterday so they put in the stairs.
They also got the windows put into mom's place.

They have also recently finished the rough plumbing.

And, delivered mom's tub.