Wednesday, September 7, 2011

First Plaster Coat on the Exterior

This is the appearance of the exterior of our house as of September 7, 2011.
East wall
North wall
South wall
There are still many, many layers of plaster to go, both outside and in. But we love the process. And we feel like our home is literally rising up from the land. Amazing!

Interlude

Sometimes, most times actually, life gets in the way of desire. This is the only thing that can explain our lull in construction-related activity. I had to return to work at my university, and Scott had to attend to Logan business related to his new, soon-to-be-published book. Once the requisite business was taken care of, Scott returned to Torrey where he is now hard at work staining our exterior doors, installing door handles and locks and hanging said doors.

By way of explanation, rather than opting for solid hardwood doors, we purchased fiberglass doors from Therma-tru. You might ask why we would choose fiberglass doors when wood plays a starring role in our entire house. The answer? Our exterior doors are three quarter light doors. I've learned that means that glass is three quarters of the door. We wanted Serious glass in the doors because of the insulative qualities of the glass, and Therma-tru doors are the only doors in which Serious Windows will put their glass.

Therma-tru does not make a wood door, but we wanted the wood look. We also wanted all of the advertised benefits of their fiberglass doors: low maintenance; wood grain look; no rotting, deterioration or rusting; energy efficiency; no warping, bowing or twisting; security and great insulation.

I was a bit apprehensive about our decision when I saw what the unfinished doors looked like at delivery. But all of that worry evaporated when I saw the stained and installed door. Since I'm not in Torrey, I accept Scott's assurances that the doors will be beautiful. His photos give a clearer picture of the actual appearance. I'm also heartened to hear of visitors' incredulous comments: "You're kidding! That's fiberglass? They look like imported antique doors."

How lucky to have a partner who works on your shared dream when you cannot be there with him.

In this video, I think you can see how easy it is to achieve this part of our goals.


First door in place
An inside view
Close-up of door hardware
An important aside...We purchased our door hardware from Beazer Lock and Key in Logan, Utah. They were extremely helpful and knowledgeable.