the blogging mood

haven't been in the blogging mood lately, but here's a quick update mostly for my records. i finally began covering the rest of the foundation walls with the surface bond cement stucco at the end of last week. i plan to finish that up today.

i've tried a few different techniques of application. on the rear wall, katie & i went from end to end, putting up sufficient coverage to embed and cover the mesh while applying some kind of appealing texture with a hand trowel (a 6" drywall knife, actually.) this used a bunch of compound and left a few areas with mesh impressions apparent.

the north wall was applied in two coats. first, a light covering to just embed the mesh was applied with the 6" knife. i didn't cover all areas, just enough that i felt would restrict the mesh from movement. then after a day of curing, i came back and coated over it with a wide trowel. this worked somewhat, but the areas not covered by the initial coat still showed the mesh through the second coat.

half of the west wall was also applied in two coats. the first coat was covered using the wide trowel for a thin, consistent embedment of the entire mesh. tight spots at corners and the top of the wall were touched up with the 6" drywall knife. after a day, i came back with the wide trowel again and ran the top coat. the first coat was applied in the vertical direction; the second coat in the horizontal. this technique works best, giving good results with minimal time spent.

some nuance of the technique. be sure the mix is well mixed. use plenty of water to ensure a wet mix that will apply easily in thin layers, but still thick enough that it wont just flow away. i haven't managed to add too much water so far. wide trowel in left hand, load it up with the knife in the right hand. cut compound away from inch or so from ends of trowel. drop the knife and put the wide trowel in the right hand, while keeping it balanced so you don't drop the load. apply it to the wall, start low and pull it upward, covering the area you want. if second coat, then smooth out that application with horizontal strokes. key in both coats is to knock down any spots that protrude from the plane; keep it smooth.

anyway.

earlier in the week, before the foundation, i ran sleeves through the wall for the water and sewer. the water line is 3/4" and the sewer line is 4". i ran 2" and 6" PVC sleeves through the wall, they are about 11 1/4" long, slightly protruding from both the inside and outside planes of the wall. i plan to run 1" polyethylene for the water line and 4" PVC for the sewer line, both from the street through the sleeves. the sewer will run with a proper slope from the street to just before the wall, where it will turn upward with two 1/8th bends, then a wye will split one direction off through the wall and the other will continue to the surface for a cleanout just outside the wall.

the plan is to get the siding and all exterior done before finishing the water/sewer runs. i have a rough schedule of the progress of the work i want to accomplish over the next 5 1/2 months and i'll try best to keep that schedule, but i'm already falling behind for this month. so much work so little time!

i also developed a good technique for organizing my task lists. currently many of the tasks ahead of me have lots of required, dependent tasks, so there are many required orders in which to perform things. simple lists don't keep this properly organized, but i found an arrow-based drawing on my whiteboard works well. i'll take a pic of it when i find my camera to show you what i mean.

ok i'm out.