Outside Doors
Post date: Aug 21, 2015 1:42:02 AM
Today Jake and Eli installed the front door. This involved determining how wide the trim would be above the door (and below the lintel). It also required determining how much the door would be recessed behind the stucco. I wanted to be sure the door would not bind on the stucco when it was opened relatively wide, yet the stucco has to curve inward to the door to look similar to the windows. Eli also had to cut the door frame down. (I ordered it wide, just in case.) And Jake had to waterproof around the door frame and Eli oiled the back side of the frame just in case water does seep in.Then Eli shimmed the door into position while Jake watched the reveal (space between the door and frame) from the outside. By 4pm the door was set firmly in place.
While all this was going on — minus time to consult with Eli on the position of the door — I was grinding away concrete at the outer edges of the garage door opening. This involved an angle grinder with a particularly stiff power switch, outfitted with a diamond blade. That made lots of dust, which got into my hair, clothes, and shoes. Fortunately it seems not to be toxic, and even washes off easily.And outside, the plasterers were putting the second coat of cement plaster on the walls. This coat gets fiberglass mesh embedded, which eliminated cracks by strengthening the stucco. Because I had only seen two-coat plaster (mine is three-coat) I had mistakenly thought that I would not get the fiberglass mesh.
While preparing to plaster, they wet the walls. While wetting the walls, the leak at the study window reappeared. Rats. We worked hard to seal this window. So we have to remove the stucco, remove the waterproofing, figure out what was wrong, replace the waterproofing, metal lath, and plaster, dry the inside of the house, replace the fiberglass insulation, and test again.
Since we still have not installed the lintel above the front door, the plasterers cannot stucco there yet. But they have plenty of work on the west half of the house plus the mechanical room on the roof.
