stucco scratch/brown coat interior paint

STUCCO

Final preparations for stucco application were completed just as drywall was wrapping up.

It’s not advisable to start stucco until drywall is complete since the drywall install process includes a fair amount of banging on the walls, which would lead to more cracks in freshly applied stucco. The photo below shows the corner beads in place and the ceiling lathe applied throughout the carport.

Windows and other exterior finish surfaces are taped off, a critical step in such a messy process.

I’ve always liked the black and red-framed window aesthetic just prior to stucco applications.

This pile, along with a bunch of sand and some water, is now attached to our building.

“Scratch” coat complete!

“Brown” coat in process below.

After the first two coats are on the protection is removed and the material is allowed to cure. During this period we had relatively cool weather and a heavy marine layer, both factors that help minimize cracks. In addition to this we “watered” our building every couple days – a process that basically amounts to spraying all the exposed stucco surfaces with a garden hose. The extra water slows the curing process with the goal of minimizing cracks.

“Color” coat, the final step in the process, goes on next week.

interior Paint

I’d like to take this opportunity to clear up an important issue in the world of paint for our fine little 4-plex. We will not be painting our walls Navajo White. The walls in our current apartment (along with perhaps millions of apartments and spec homes and even offices across America) are painted Navajo White. I, ahem, do not like this shade of “white”. Navajo White is not white.

What’s wrong with Navajo White you might ask?

OK, imagine if your grandmother lived in a cute little 1-bedroom cottage. Imagine she painted the interior walls a nice, clean white to match the picket fence out front. Now imagine she chain-smoked in that house for the next 60 years and never repainted. That is Navajo White.

We are painting our walls white. A clean, bright, true white. A blank canvas that embraces the absolutely spectacular quality of the natural sunlight that we experience here in southern California. A blank canvas for an bright future. Optimism in a can! Onward!

Perhaps you like Navajo White. Don’t worry, we can definitely still be friends. I won’t mention the color of your walls when I come over.

After all, it’s just paint.

Roll the photos.

Next up: casework, flooring and all kinds of other lovely finish work! I hesitate to give a precise move in date, the unknowns of construction being what they are, but we hope to have the project ready for occupancy by the end of June.

If you’re interested in renting the 1, 2 or 3 bedroom or know someone who does, get on over to the live-here page and submit your info. We’ll be finalizing price and availability very soon.