Exterior is coming along!

I had no idea that there are about 400 steps to installing stucco! They've been working on the exterior for about a month now. They do a moisture barrier, a felt paper, metal lath, scratch coat, brown coat and then a finish coat and paint it. With the humidity we had the first few weeks, and the rain we've had the last few weeks, the stucco is taking double the usual amount of time to dry. And they said we have another 2 weeks likely to go until the final coat is on, dry and painted. Really?! Yikes. Another reason I like brick I suppose. My first inclination was a white brick house, but this neighborhood doesn't allow white brick. Yes you read that right. How odd is that? SO that's where the stone came in. I really didn't want an all stucco house so my options were brown brick (not my thing) or stone in any color. Enter my never ending decision on stone color and shape. The stone will be applied in another two weeks, and then I'll really be able to see the exterior coming together. Oh I hope I like it. Either way I'm stuck with it so I'm so nervous!

Here's the steps in photo form:

Prepped with a moisture barrier and felt paper and ready with scaffolding

I missed a picture with the mesh coat on so here's the first coat (the "scratch coat")

Close up view of what they call the "scratch coat"

Our current situation (notice the doors are in!!)

And we have garage doors! What color those will be is still a bit of a discussion ;)

The stucco process. We have the last 2 steps to go, and then they'll paint it all and get it ready for the stone!

It's such a grey block right now. I can't wait for the stone to add some depth and dimension and some shutters to soften everything up!

#stucco #exterior #tollbrothers #toll #scratchcoat #mesh #moisturebarrier #paint #garage #frontdoors