Stucco and flagstone are complete and work progresses inside

The stucco color coat is complete. A sealer will be applied to the stucco and flagstone to repel moisture. This will darken the color slightly.


This is the view from the east end of the house looking at the master bedroom portal and the east guest bedroom portal.


This is the view from the west end of the house looking at the garage, kitchen portal, and the west guest bedroom. The second garage opening is not visible as it is set back from the first opening.


The entry door from Santa Fe Doors and the flagstone work by Little Guy Masonry. Copper drains pipes will be added to the front posts and and a doorbell then this area will be complete.


Jenny's efforts at site restoration have paid off!! The native grass and wildflowers are up and getting taller everyday.

This is the tile pattern in the laundry room.

This is the utility sink in the laundry room. The brown coat has been added up to the grout around the tile work.

This is the powder room vanity. It is the wildest of the color schemes. We found this sink several years ago and have been dragging it around in anticipation of building a house. It has finally found its place.

Flagstone work
Little Guys Masonry wrapped up work on the Portals and around the garage this past week. As with all their work, they did a wonderful job. We had them add some additional stone details in the interior which turned out nicely. The exterior stone will get sealed when we seal the stucco.

Stucco color coat is complete

The stucco crew returned on Friday, May 8th and finished the exterior color coat. They had already applied the color coat to the walls that did not have flagstone details (which had not yet been completed) but we kept them at bay until all the stone work was completed to assure that the two tied together well. The completion of the color coat completes the exterior of the house and we will now bring in the excavators to complete final grading around the house and dig the trench for the patio wall.

John and Griffin finish the brown coat

All the interior walls (with the exception of the guest and master bath) have a brown coat of earth plaster and are ready for the color coat. The brown coat took almost 4 weeks to complete. Griffin has been working with Jenny in mixing and selecting colors for the final finish coat. I picked up a load of Kaolin clay in Albuquerque while on a tile buying trip. We are ready to begin.

Tile and sinks

Since the earth plaster must butt up against the tile on the cabinets, I have been focused on getting the tile set and grouted. I completed the laundry room, powder room and guest bath vanity and tub. Jenny found several beautiful Talavera painted sinks for the guest, and master bath as well as the powder room. I set them after the tile was in place and then grouted around them. The faucets she selected are perfect. These rooms will be stunning when we are finished.

Lael is working on the granite tiles in the kitchen and I am setting the Saltillo tile on the stairs. Lael was part of the original Earth Block crew, who I have hired to help with other miscellaneous task. He is a very skilled craftsman who is versed in many trades. The master bath tile is delayed because the factory in Mexico that makes them was shut down with the swine flu outbreak. I did plumb and set the master soaking tub. We were missing a cabinet for the master bath vanity and, after waiting 4 weeks for it to arrive find that it was destroyed in transit. Getting things here in one piece has been a challenge. The tally to date for damaged items shipped to net one good item is as follows:

2 geothermal heat pumps

3 geothermal hot water storage tanks

2 geothermal pump systems

4 toilets to net three

2 vanity cabinets (assuming the next one is in one piece)

Appliances and the garage doors have yet to arrive... I have my fingers crossed.

Heading towards our CO (certificate of occupancy)

We are focused on wrapping up work required for a CO around the end of May. There is still a long list of tasks to complete but we will continue to work seven days a week until they are finished. The house just gets more beautiful everyday and all those who work on it or come visit have said how much they love it. The local paper used three color pictures of the interior work for an article about the spring green living expo in early April. The reporter wants to do a more in depth article once we are completely finished.

Stucco gets a brown coat and the fireplaces get a coat of mud

This is a view of the house from the lower Gulch loop road. The brown coat of stucco is complete and will cure before applying the final color coat.



This is a view of the house from higher up on the lower gulch loop road.


This is the fireplace in the great room. The scratch coat of clay, sand, and chopped straw has been applied to the expanded metal lath. A second coat of this mixture will be applied once the first coat is completely dry.



This is the fireplace in the master bedroom. It reminds me of a Mexican bread oven. The scratch coat is still wet in some places.


Ben has joined the plaster team and is prepping the door openings by working a clay, sand, and chopped straw mix into the metal lath that has been attached to the wall and rolled into the door jamb.


The entry portal with it's copper flashing. The copper will oxidize to the color of an old penny in a few months.

Stucco brown coat goes on
After completing the scratch coat, the stucco crew started in on the brown coat. The scratch coat is put on fairly thin and then roughed up with a hand-held rake to give the brown coat something to cling to. The brown coat is not brown. It is a fibered cement product that is put on more thickly than the scratch coat and is worked to a flat sandy surface with a sponge trowel. The final coat will be the color coat and it is applied about 1/8 inch thick. We are going to hold off on the final color coat for awhile to let the first coats dry thoroughly.

Interior doors are installed
John and Griffin have been finishing up the installation of the interior doors. Once the jambs were anchored in place the doors were removed and taken to the garage which Jenny just finished painting. The doors will be stored there until the walls are plastered. The guys have been stapling expanded metal lath to the drywall around the door jambs and to give the plaster a strong surface to bond to.

We have heat!
Dave Himes has been working on the geothermal system and we now have heat. All the zones are wired together and a thermostat has been mounted in the office to regulate the temperature. Dave also got the domestic water plumbed and we can now use the hose bibs on the outside of the house to draw water. It will be great to pull the little sump pump from the cistern and secure the lid. I worried about critters falling into our drinking water.

The fireplaces get a first coat of earth plaster
I have been working on covering the expanded metal lath on the fireplaces with a mix of sand, clay, and finely chopped straw. The straw was placed in a large plastic drum and chopped fine with a weed eater. This mix was worked into the metal lath to assure that about 1/4 inch of it penetrated to the other side of the lath. When it dried, the surface was very firm and well anchored to the lath. I will add another layer of this mix to the first layer before we use a brown coat. The total thickness will be about one inch of material. I am very impressed with the strength of the earth plaster mix and like the idea that it is very low in embodied energy.

Electrical panels are powered up
I flipped the main breaker on the electrical panel that powers the heated space and also installed temporary receptacles in the bathroom dedicated circuits to have a good distribution of power throughout the house for the crew. It will be nice not to be dragging long extension cords all over. With the door jambs in place we need to avoid pulling extension cords around as it would damage their finish.

The entry and vigas are capped in copper
I had copper panels cut for the tops of the exposed vigas to prevent water damage to the wood. They are just wide enough to cover the top where snow would sit. The copper will heat up with the sun exposure and the snow will melt and slide off. The copper flashing wrapped around the entry portal turned out really well. The copper is very shiny right now but it will turn the color of a penny very soon.

We continue to make good progress and are getting closer to putting the brown coat on the interior walls. That will be another milestone for this project.

Cob and Stucco Scratch Coat

This is an interior window opening that has been wrapped with metal lath and then coated with Cob (clay sand and chopped straw).

This is a detail shot of the cob.

The master bedroom fireplace is ready for a cement-based base coat. The final coats will be earth plaster.


Ramon with Quintanos Stucco is applying the exterior scratch coat around the garage windows. The coat will be left to dry completly before applying the brown coat. The color coat is last.

With the stucco scratch coat, the house is now all one uniform surface material and we can get a better feel for what it will finally look like.

Raider has been working on some pretty demeaning stupid pet tricks and wanted to share one with you. For a guy who perpetually thinks he is starving, this trick takes a lot of discipline.

Interior Detailing before plaster

Griffin, Chet, and Kris have been applying metal lath to interior wall corners and any locations where materials change or where there are surfaces that need leveling out. They then apply a clay, sand, and straw mixture called Cob to the lath making sure to work it into, and behind, the metal lath. This process will make the brown coat plaster easier and prevent cracks where dissimilar materials join together. The Cob is the first layer, followed by a brown coat, followed by a finish coat (with color) similar to the exterior process.

John has been setting interior doors in the guest bedrooms and bath and getting this area ready for the earth plaster brown coat. Once the door jambs are in place he will remove the doors from the jambs and put them in a safe place while we plaster the walls. The door jambs are narrower than the wall thickness to allow the plaster to roll into the face of the jamb.

I have spent most of my time watching over the Stucco crew as they prep the exterior. There are a lot of decisions to be made at this stage. They arrived about a week earlier than I would have liked. The stone masons are still working on the exterior flagstone details and I have copper flashing to attach to the top of the vigas and the entry portal.

The Water Treatment System is Installed

The mechanical room just got a little more cozy this week with the addition of 5 more pieces of equipment. Mark Quesenbery with Hague Quality Water installed our water treatment system. The water in rural Durango is very hard and will eat hot water tanks and copper plumbing in short order. The mechanical room could have easily been twice its current the size. With Dave Himes' (Southwest Geothermal) CAD layouts, we made the best of the small space. With the addition of this new equipment, it is apparent I will need to fabricate another metal rack to mount to the ceiling for a second pressure tank.

The master bedroom fireplace takes shape

In my spare time, I have been fabricating the small master bedroom fireplace. This one has gone much smoother than the great room fireplace and has inspired me to redo parts of that one. I hope to apply the base coat to the metal lath next week.

It has been another busy week with lots of folks on the site. Even though we are making great progress, it will be nice when we can get back to a small crew again.

Drywall and detailing for stucco

The fireplace was put to use warming the house while we work.


Jenny applys three coats of linseed oil mixed 50/50 with paint thinner. It really brings out the redish color of the lintels and beams.


This is a view of the house from across the Gulch.


This is a view of the house from Horse Gulch Road .


The entry portal is complete and ready for a copper flashing detail around the top edge. The front door is from Santa Fe Doors and is a 10 panel knotty alder with a distressed finish. They did a very nice job on all the doors. They are perfect for the house.


The drywall is installed and ready for earth plaster prep. This view is from the kitchen looking through the dining room and into the great room.


The great room fireplace exterior frame is in place and covered with expanded metal lath ready for a coat of fiber filled cement.

Drywall goes on the framed walls

Our drywall crew showed up after the plumbing and framing inspection. There aren't a lot of framed walls in the house so this work went fairly quickly. The garage recieved a traditional drywall process including a texture. The rest of the house received only a tape coat since these walls will be covered with an earth plaster. This is the first time we can see what the rooms are like and how much natural light they receive. I really did not like the drywall process. It generates a lot of scrap that is not recyclable. We took three loads of scrap drywall to the landfill with John's trailer.

The stone masons move to the outside work

The interior stone work is complete and the stone masons moved to the outside of the house to do the door threshholds, window sills, and portals.

Treating the exterior wood

Jenny has been painting all the exterior timbers, posts, and vigas with three coats of linseed oil mixed 50/50 with paint thinner. This treatment has really brought out the color of the rough sawn timbers.

The fireplace exterior takes shape

I have been working on creating the shape of the two fireplaces using 1/2 inch electrical conduit and expanded metal lath. I made CAD models of the fireplace shape and used these to generate a template for bending the conduit to shape. The vertical pieces were fastened to a welded top and bottom plate and the horizontal pieces were fastened to the walls. The verticals and horizontals were attached to each other with tie wire and then a layer of expanded metal lath was attached to this structure. I will cover the metal lath with a thick coat of cement with vermiculite and glass fiber filler. the whole structure will then be covered with earth plaster.

It has been a crazy couple weeks with so many crews on site. We will have the stucco crew on site starting next week.

Interior walls, Portals, Plumbing, and Electrical

The master bedroom portal is being framed. The unfinished wall above the bathroom window has been left open to blow soy foam into the ceiling and wall cavities.


The kitchen portal and west side guest bedroom portals add a wonderful stepped view of the house. It reminds me of the Hopi pueblos


The soy foam insulation blown into the framed wall cavities. This stuff is great because it is not a petroleum- based product. It cost a little more but we like the idea of using soy beans for insulation instead of oil.


This is the electrical panel in the kitchen pantry. It feeds all the circuits in the heated space (with exception to the laundry room). We have a main disconnect on the exterior of the house, a panel in the garage that feeds the mechanical room panel, the pantry panel, and all the garage electrical needs.


We have been framing out the interior walls and this image is of the great room wall that screens the master bedroom and also houses all the media equipment. The stone crew has set flagstone on the top of all the low walls.


The corner beehive fireplace is in place and we set earth blocks for the banco. The stone masons covered the banco with stone.


The flagstone on the banco wraps into the window sills. This will be a great place to sit and read a book on a sunny winter day.


Soy foam in the great room pony wall cavity above the dining room ceiling. The foam is 11" thick. The stone masons have covered the low wall between the great room and the dining room with flagstone.

Wiring and plumbing in the guest bathroom wall. The domestic water lines are PEX tubing. Blue tubing for the cold water and red for the hot. PEX is great stuff to work with and is also used in the radiant in-floor heat.

Jenny has been working on the landscaping. There is native grass seed sown on the cut slope and it is covered with a nylon netting with aspen fiber fill to retain moisture and reduce erosion. This fabric was recycled from our neighbor's, Mike & Michelle Chapman, re-seeding project.

A busy couple months

I have been remiss in adding entries to the blog but the weather has been very cooperative and we have made the best of it. On sunny days we moved the work outdoors to construct the Portals. Stormy days were good for framing interior walls. While Griffin and John tackled these tasks, I worked on electrical wiring, domestic water piping, and waste drains. This past week we have had the roofers from TL Roofing on-site completing the portals roofs.

Flagstone detailing by Jake and his crew at "Little Guy Masonry"

The stone masons have been on site the past two weeks applying capping stones on the parapet walls and completing all the interior flagstone detailing. The interior work includes stone on the window seats and capping low walls in the great room. I had a semi load of flagstone shipped in from Sedona Arizona ( http://www.azflagstonesupply.com/ ). Some was snapped to size for window sills and capping the parapet wall and the rest was random pieces for bancos and the portal floors. The stone is of excellent quality and the masons enjoy working with it.

The fireplaces are taking shape

The fireplace installers wrapped up the installation of two Adobelite beehive fireplace kits which will be finished with an exterior framework and stucco coat that will give them their final shape. This work has been the only struggle for me on this project. Very poor communication and differing perspectives on craftsmanship have resulted in compromised results. Maybe someday in the future, I may redo some of this work.

We passed Inspections!!!

This week we passed the Electrical Rough-Inspection, the Framing Rough-in Inspection, Domestic Water Plumbing Rough in Inspection, and the Drain system Rough in Inspection. We are now cleared to start drywalling.

The Mechanical Room takes shape

Dave Himes with Southwest Geothermal has done a great job piecing together the equipment for the Geothermal system. This has been no small task due to an undersized room and the large amount of equipment that must fit in the space. I fabricated two racks to allow stacking equipment. We are on a well that has hard water which requires equipment to treat the water. This, in addition to the radiant heat system and the geothermal water to water heat exchanger gives the following list of equipment:

Geothermal water to water heat pump

80 gallon storage tank

40 gallon buffer tank

80 gallon electric domestic hot water tank

Pressure tank

Aeration cistern

Carbon filter

Hague water filtration and softener system

The Interior and Entry doors arrive
We ordered our doors from Santa Fe Doors in Albuquerque NM (http://www.santafedoor.com/ ). They arrived a little over a week ago and we are very happy with them. The design is perfect for the house and the workmanship is excellent. The front entry door and the garage portal door were given a distressed look that really sets them off.

So you can see we have been hard at it and a beautiful house is emerging as the result.