Installing the Slate Veneer

Now that the siding is up and the garage door is painted it's time to put the stone veneer across the lower part of the house . Our neighbors are starting to think that we're going to live with tyvek forever.

My brother and sister-in-law have a crazy of habit of coming over to help us with the house. During this visit they helped us get the scratch coat on and ready for the stone veneer. With four people on the job we were able to get the scratch coat on in just an hour and a half.

My brother also helped us haul our "new" concrete mixer home. We got this ancient homemade monstrosity off of craigslist from a nice couple who just wanted it out of their driveway now that their project was over.

The concrete mixer also came in handy when setting up my dropcloth shelters. It took the mixer, our boat, my truck and the garage to get this shelter up so the mortar would not dry out too quickly.

I was able to arrange for a few days of work to focus on the veneer. I am making the same slate product that I have used on our last two houses. It’s a slow process. I have to cut each tile into thirds, then each piece has to be "buttered" individually and tapped into place with a rubber mallet to ensure a good bond to the scratch coat. Slowly, the veneer begins to go up.

I put in about forty-five hours over the last four days and was able to get all of the stone up. I still have to finish a little mortar work and sealing before I can show off the finished product.

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Our New House - It Might Just Be Home

I recently announced that we had sold our home in Helena and will be moving to my hometown in July. We did some house-hunting over Easter weekend and I'm please to report success. We are in the process of buying our latest home: I know you can't see it well behind the trees. I'm so excited to have actual trees on the property. The house itself is nestled against the base of a hill which will block our views of the sunset but the east-facing front porch should offer some wonderful sunrises. And here's a sneak peek of our view. I won't be posting any more photos until we've actually closed on the house. Closing is still two months away and a lot could change before then. Still, I look forward to sharing our latest project.

Sold

We sold our house last week. This may come as a surprise since the house wasn't even for sale. We weren't planning to move. Everything in the house was designed with the idea that we would be living here for years. But sometimes God makes it abundantly clear that He has other plans. In the course of just a few days Luke was offered a chance to move to his company branch in my hometown and we met a family looking for a house in our neighborhood. And now our house is under contract. Closing is scheduled for mid-July so I will have a little time to recover from having the baby, but until she arrives I've been packing up all our non-essentials. We have already started looking for our next home; maybe it will be a home we get to enjoy for decades. We'll just have to wait and see.

Repainted

It might not feel like we've accomplished all that much since buying the house last summer. What progress we have been able to make comes during naps and after the kiddo is down for the night. But despite having to work in nap-sized increments, we have been able to get quite a bit done. Take for example the house paint. The siding was rough shape. A few more years and we would not have been able to salvage it. Before - Rust colored stain needed a fresh coat years ago After-Paint provides much better protection for the brittle pine siding. Before After Garage Before - Original combed cedar siding was in terrible shape after years of mistreatment. Garage After - It looks better, but the siding needs to be replaced. The new paint will buy us some time until we're ready to tackle that project. Stable Before - Probably hadn't been painted in 20+ years. Stable After - It took 8 gallons of paint for a 16x30 structure. ...

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