FebruaryUpdate

Sheet Rock, Tree Removal,
Grading, Driveway, and Fireplace
Scratch Coat

This month we started out with the scratch coat on the fireplace chase. To recap, the chase was built using a 2x4
structure covered with 1/2 inch OSB (oriented strand board). It was then coated with a water proof sealer
(suggested by the stone manufacturer of the stone) followed by diamond wire mesh which was stapled every 6
inches. The scratch coat is a conventional mortar mix spread about 3/16 inch thick. After the scratch coat has
been allowed to dry for about an hour a notched trowel is used to rough up the surface. This will give the stone a
good surface to adhere to.

Here is the lower section with the scratch coat complete. Although next month is a very busy one for us, we hope
to get a good portion of the stone work done.

As you can see the scratch coat wasn't something that could be done in a day or two. This fireplace goes up 21
feet and all four sides had to be covered.

Our sheet rock contractor began by using up the 3 sheets of fire code sheet rock we had left over from doing the
garage ceiling and the walls that intersect the house. 5/8 inch fire code sheet rock is required where ever the
garage intersects the house. The rest of the walls can be 1/2 inch which is MUCH lighter and easier to handle.

These guys were good and made quick work of the garage walls. In some areas of the country you might want
to insulate your garage. Here, although it does get cold in the winter, we felt that the extra expense of
insulating the garage was not cost effective. When it comes to the shop, no insulation was used either. The
way I look at it is that I'm retired and if it's too cold to work in the shop then I'll just stay inside and pop a
movie into the DVD player and pop a bag of popcorn.

The garage is now done. We do not plan on painting the walls at this time. Maybe someday we'll do it but a
garage is a garage and as far as we are concerned a garage doesn't need to be as "finished" as the rest of the
house.

The shop area provided a bit more of a challenge with it's vaulted ceiling. Keep in mind that the door in the
picture is 18 feet wide and 8 feet high.

These two guys managed to get those 4x12 foot sheets up there all by themselves. To give you an idea of the
height here, the lights in the picture are 18 feet off the floor. Now maybe you can understand why we called in the
professionals for this job.

Here is the ceiling finished. Next week we'll re-hang the lights (that's why the scaffolding is still up) and then we
can get things set up again to cut trim material when we get ready to complete to the rooms on the second floor,
(once the fireplace rock is complete).

Here is the business end of the shop completed. All the shop tools and auto parts have been "shoved" into this
area so the contractor could finish the ceiling in the rest of the shop at this juncture. Next week we'll reorganize
this area so we can find things again. Later, after the house is complete I'll start building work benches in this
area.

Although most people think of Arizona as being very dry, up here in the mountains we have a fair deal of rain
during certain times of the year. This 12 inch pipe was laid under part of the driveway and will drain some of the
water from the gutters in the front of the house.

While the machinery was on site we had our contractor dig trenches for our underground drainage system. We
located a 4 inch flexible pipe at each location where a gutter system down spout will be placed. This pipe will
carry the water runoff underground to the 12 inch pipe that goes under the driveway (in the previous picture).
From there the water will follow a natural depression to the drainage ditch by the street.

When the pipe was in place the trench was filled in. We now have a complete underground drainage system which
will eliminate erosion of the soil witch can be a problem in this area during our monsoon season.

With the underground drainage system finished several yards of 2 inch cinders were brought in, spread out,
rolled and compacted in order to stabilize the entire driveway.

It's nice to have a decent driveway and walkways for a change. As you can see we do need a fair amount of fill
especially to the left of the ramp to bring this area up to grade. All that will come next spring. It would be nice to
be able to park in the garage but unfortunately it's full of stone.

That's it for another month. This month we will be at the Festival of the
West in Phoenix and at the Flagstaff Home Show. When we're not
manning the booth at the shows we will be working on the fireplace stone
and the "boss" will continue the polyurethane process.

Check back Soon

One of the things you need to know when building a log home is your own limitations. Although we can do and
have done some sheet rock during this project when it comes to large areas, we hire pros. What you see here is
seventy three 4x12 foot sheets of 1/2 inch sheet rock which will be used to complete the garage and shop areas.

With the sheet rock complete in the garage and shop it was time to call in our excavation contractor and have the
"construction" driveway rebuilt and properly turned into a finished driveway. The first job was to bring a roller in
to flatten and compact the entire area. A lot has changed since the days of the old steam rollers. This one not
only rolls but has a vibrating compaction mode as well. When that thing is vibrating you can feel it 50 feet away!

The next step was "dirty screen". This material is made up of crushed rock and other materials that once wet
almost act like concrete and bind the cinders together. This screen was rolled and compacted as well.

The ramp to our faux barn door was then constructed and the screen material was rolled down in preparation for
the final 1 inch cinders.

This ramp will make our doors look even more real. The whole idea of the faux doors is to give the garage the
appearance of an old barn rather than a garage.

With the ramp ready the final cinders could be brought in and the entire process of spreading, leveling, rolling,
and compacting could begin again.

With the driveway finished we can now park in the garage, if it wasn't full of construction materials that is.

The ramp to our faux barn door was then constructed and the screen material was rolled down in preparation for
the final 1 inch cinders.

While the roller was busy with the driveway we had our contractor do some grading around the house. We knew
we had a small drainage problem from the hill behind the house so we created a depression for the water to drain
away from the back of the house.

With the correct grading complete the dirt was rolled and compacted to help hold down erosion.

Our small stream bed, which is always dry unless it's raining, was reworked a bit to improve drainage as well. If
you look closely you can see a bit of 4 inch pipe sticking up near the corner of the house and the other end where
it empties into our stream bed. This is another part of our underground drainage system.

We also had our walkways brought up to grade and cinders spread to keep visitors from having to walk in the
mud to get up to the house. These walk ways are temporary and will be replaced with field stone when we do our
final landscaping next spring.

Here is the finished product. Next spring we will line the driveway with rail road ties to keep the cinders from
working their way off the sides. We will also be bringing in more fill dirt next year so the final landscaping can be
completed.

Finally it was time to have our stone delivered.

This is "Mountain Ledge" Dakota Brown manufactured stone. This stone can be installed either with or without
grout joints. We have chosen to install this without grout joints. This saves having to install grout between the
stones but increases our labor and the amount of stone required to cover a given surface. Check back next
month because the fireplace should look quite a bit different.