The Home Front - Scratch Coat Goes ON

HI!

Things are moving pretty rapidly now - or maybe it's just an illusion of speed! We left town and knew that the stucco would be going on the house while we were gone. They estimated that the whole process - which includes wrapping the house in paper, putting on the chicken wire, applying the scratch coat, adding the forms around the windows, and finally applying the final coat - would take about 21 days. We returned from the trip to find that the papering and wire application was complete, and now, 4 days later, the scratch coat is almost done. Here's a view toward the dining room doors and the great room windows. Also, the framers have started putting up the framing for the courtyard walls and the electricians will install the lighting so that the stucco guys can complete their work on the wall before they pull out. After the scratch coat (the grey colored application) comes the finish coat which is going to be a wheat colored fairly smooth finish top coat. One thing we did was to put the pigment into the stucco ..... so hopefully we won't have to paint in the future!

More pics of the scratch coat and the house ........

Next, there's a top coat that goes over the scratch coat. It's the final color of the house ..... a sort of wheat color ..... and the top coat seals the stucco and weather proofs it. I've never seen it before (which doesn't mean much), but it's rubber-like and will stretch as the building expands in Summer and contract as the building contracts in the Winter. It's virtually maintenance free - never needs paint. Maybe just a bit of cleaning / washing every now and again, and possibly some patching if it ever gets nicked or torn.

Here's the color going on above the garage doors.

Cheers!