Glen & Kris

Exterior Finishes

This section shows exterior finishes.

Masons applied a thin stone veneer to the face of the garage, wrapping about 30" onto the carport walls. The wall was prepared for stone by covering it with tar paper and stapling aluminum lath to the face. A scrim coat of mortar was applied, then the stones were adhered to that base with additional mortar. The stone is locally sourced Colorado Buff sandstone with mineral staining and it's about 2½" thick. Here is a view of all four garage doors and the completed stone work. Another view of the front of the house. Here is a close up of a post for the deck railing. I made these from 6 x 6 clear fir and then stained them to match the oak. Here is a corner post. The posts are secured by 5/8" bolts and malleable iron washers. The carport interior walls are clad in A606 7/8" corrugated steel panels. This steel will develop a rust patina on the surface. Also visible are the 4" thick capstones on the outside retaining walls. These haven't been mortared in place yet. The green pipe on the right is a drain for the roof gutters that leads to daylight down the hill. Here is the east carport. We're temporarily storing extra building materials here. The door will get painted dark brown in the near future. This close up of the east carport shows the 1½" thick cedar pads I built to create a flat surface for the lighting fixtures and ducts that penetrate the corrugated steel. The blue filter is a HEPA vacuum cleaner filter I fitted to the boiler intake to keep construction dust out. Here is a view of the back of the house showing the corrugated steel on the sides of the shed dormer: the dormer roof has architectural shingles on it. This is a close shot of the corrugated steel on the south–facing dormer. The horizontal steel ridges are snow stops. You can also see lightning rods along the ridge. Another view of the dormer. Here is a view of the driveway and hammerhead as seen from the west deck. Recycled asphalt was placed and compacted to provide a hard surface that resists erosion and creates little dust. In addition, the dark color will accelerate snow melt in the winter time to help keep the driveway clear. This view of the house is from the county road. The recycled asphalt driveway surface is just visible. Another view from the county road. The straw erosion control mats hold grass seed in place on steeper slopes. The mats should disappear as grass takes hold next spring. This view is from the southeast corner of our property ... far enough away that no curtains are required! <span class='myGreyFont'>[End of series.]</span>


Return to the New House page.