Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

[gjbingham]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

Looks nice James! I love the wall's contour.

Hard to make good use of that space immediately adjacent to the oven, huh? I'm condsidering putting a sink there. Occasional use, but probably necessary.

[james]

Second stucco coat

This is the three coat method, directly on concrete block. We are putting it on with a trowel, then smoothing it with a float.

The final coat is the white, ultra smooth coat -- just before paint.

It's starting to feel like a wall.
James

[james]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

We took the advice of going lower, and added a couple of curves to the wall to keep some interested.

Here are two good photos. First you can see the guy with the pump standing and pumping concrete into the cores. Second, you can see the scratch coat of stucco on the wall. These could be helpful to anyone doing stucco directly on concrete block, or building a wall.

Next stop, the decorative caps and the smooth coat. Slowly, slowly.
James

[james]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

...

You could always put a couple of strategically placed potted plants on top of the wall if you need more privacy.

Nice idea. Maybe we can add a little alcove in the wall if it starts feeling too massive.

XJ, we can hang Valenciano plates -- like your house.
James

[Frances]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

You're really flying through this one!

I'd agree with George on wall hight. You could always put a couple of strategically placed potted plants on top of the wall if you need more privacy.

[gjbingham]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

I like larger and airier. Close it off too much, and it will feel like a prison.

[james]

Seven courses and counting

We're up seven courses on the block wall. I guess that's about 56". Now we get to decide if we want a curve, and if we are going up one more course.

It's the trade off between privacy, and feeling as though the space is larger and airier.

What do you think?
James

[james]

Footer, column and blocks

Here is the start of the block wall. The foot with the embedded rebar, the large square block for the column and the first course of standard blocks.

The Home Depot delivery truck showed up on time this morning and we're off and running.
James

[james]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

Jim,

It's also on the cover of our new FB Residential Oven brochure. :-)

I will post photos of the wall going up today. We poured the footer yesterday.
James

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

James, I noticed you'd put your kitchen/oven picture up at FB...very good looking indeed!

Have fun!

[james]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

Next step -- we've started the block wall. We are putting it down exactly where the wood fence was, so we were able to get an over-the-counter permit. The trench is done, we are bending and tying rebar, and the concrete pump is here.

You can see that we propped up the old fence between the house and the road, just to keep some privacy (and help keep the dogs in), while we build the wall.

I'm excited. Hopefully, this will look pretty good.
James

[james]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

Robert,

Exactly. This was the first time we hosed the whole thing down, and it feels good just to see it clean and shiny. I planted grass seed up to the steps yesterday, which will keep dirt down, and we are sealing on Monday.

It shows what you've been up to when "clean" feels so good.
James

[Acoma]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

James, that 3 river reminds me so much about our patio. It looks awesome wet. Looks like you washed down the area, are you going to seal with wet look?

[gjbingham]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

OK, I'm jealous. There, I said it!

[james]

Re: Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

Beauty shot. We're replacing the wood fence with a block wall and I need to pick out the light fixtures -- but other than that, I think we're done. :-)

James