Final Exterior Plaster

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This is destined to be a summer of lasts. Typically lasts and goodbyes are not my favorite moments. I’m much more comfortable with firsts and hellos. However, the lasts of this summer are ones we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

Take last week for example. We needed to add the very last coat of exterior plaster. If we went by the book, that would have meant ¼ inch of finish coat over the 2^nd layer that’s been on the house since last fall. In our case, because our walls have undulations, some of which are significant, that final ¼ inch of plaster has been as great as one inch in some places. Our goal? To make the straightest walls possible while, at the same time, keeping the earthy, hand-made character of a straw bale house that we love so much.

Scott has spent more time with plaster than I have. Here he applies that ¼-inch layer that books talk about.

His small Japanese pool trowel was his favorite tool.

I really got into it.

After four long days of work, that last coat brought the walls to their full depth. As you can see, the windows are now flush with the walls. It looks finished.

I applied the very last handful of plaster.

The exterior plaster is complete. It is a fond farewell. The next step...painting all of the exterior walls.