Circle B Ranch: MUD IN THE HOUSE!

Howdy Y'all!

Jan and I are back from a mini, 10 day 'getaway' vacation to Cabo San Lucas. We traded 90 degree weather in San Marcos for 90 degree weather in Cabo, but... Cabo has a beach!! It is typically where we head for at least a week every year, and it was a welcomed relief to get away from the building activity and just veg for awhile. Unfortunately, our Spanish hasn't progressed beyond ordering cervezas and ceviche.

But, now we are back, and some progress was made while we were gone. This is the part of the build activity where big changes start to appear, but it is also the part where 'do overs' get very expensive. So, while it appears that changes are taking place, they are somewhat glacial in terms of speed. Lots of checking, and rechecking, by the project manager to make sure that details are observed and mistakes don't get covered up.

The picture below is a 'do over'. If you notice the center arch, you'll see that it has been raised 24 inches (compare to previous blog pics). It was originally the same height as the other arches, but we had a minor problem opening the door more than 30%. The top of the door kept hitting the arch, and we couldn't get through the doorway (okay, I couldn't get through the opening). It looked good on the architect's drawing, and made sense when it was framed. But, put a door in the frame and everything changed. We like it better this way. (The yellow electrical wire still has to be rerouted.)

New arched doorway.

We also came home to the beginnings of the spanish tile roof installation. About 2/3 of the roof is now installed, but can't be finished until we resolve a small issue with the outdoor fireplace stonework. Another architectural 'vision' that has some challenges in the real world application.

Making progress. Still missing the ridge caps.

Moving inside is where things are really happening, and the 'personality' of the house is starting to take place. Jesus is one of the three individuals applying tape, edging and mud on the newly erected sheetrock. (I think this is a cool job to have - walking around on 4-5 foot stilts all day long, playing with mud. How cool is that!)

Jesus putting up the edging over the front doorway.

We chose to have all of the wall edges in the house 'rounded' instead of standard 90 degree corners.

This is the first house in which we've done this, so we didn't realize all of the work that goes into it. Pretty nifty technology that is fairly perfected these days. All of the edges, screws, and taped edges are surfaced with three layers of 'mud', before the texturing process can begin. This is a critical point that goes very slowly, but is important so that the surface becomes perfectly flat for the texturing phase. Also, if the opportunity is there for you, make the decision to screw the sheetrock in rather than just having it nailed. Not much more expensive, but certainly better in the long run not watching your walls slowly spit nails out over time.

Ceiling treatment in the Office/Den.

For the most part, the following pictures are of some of the finished rooms now waiting for an assortment of different textures that we've chosen for different parts of the house.