Over the last several months I have tried to learn as much as I can about being an owner-builder from the various posts and replies of others. I have found some very detailed and helpful posts. Marty in Boston, MA

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Brick/Rock - Exterior Finished

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 12/17/2008 3:06:01 PM

When the mason set the brick arch on the front porch, they left the arch support up for several day to let it cure before removing it.  They came out and removed the support template, plastic covering the entry door, and cleaned the mortar off the bricks with VanaTrol.

Photos

Scrubbing the rock with a wire brush and hosing it off.	Putting in some touch-up mortar around the arched entry door frame.	Cleaning the brick and windows.
Nice and clean and look, you can see the entry door again! I even got the first coat of clear finish put on.	A closer look at the rock around the door.	All clean!
Joseph Bedrich came by and helped me get the leftover rock in a pile. There is still good rock to use around the yard and entrance at the road, so we will just hang onto it here for a while.

HardiBacker

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 12/17/2008 2:11:56 PM

Since we are putting tile in the showers and tub surrounds, we are using the 1/2" HardiBacker cement board which is waterproof.

Photos

Cement board in bath 2 around plumbing for fixtures.	Cement board in bath 3 around plumbing.	Cement board in master bath around plumbing.

Rock - Interior

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 12/17/2008 2:00:17 PM

To keep the kids shoe marks off the bar wall and because I think it looks nice, we're putting the white rock around the bar wall below the bar top.

Photos

Plumb lines dropped at the corners to establish a starting point to keep the wall straight.	Notice the flat rock in the center. I didn't like the cut edge showing so they are going to put the cuts against the wall.	Putting mortar on the rock before placing it on the wall.
Rock around mantel.	Side walls finished.	Long wall finished.
Notice the cut pieces vertical to the ceiling by the mantel. That looks much better!	Finishing all the way to the ceiling above the mantel.	Rock wall finished.

Texture

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 12/17/2008 1:31:09 PM

After looking at the types of texture available, I decided to go with "orange peel."  It has a very clean and smooth look with just the right amount of texture, similar to the peel of an orange.

Photos

Jay spraying on the texture in the garage.	Randy and Kenny had taped the windows to prevent too much mud from getting on the vinyl. Now, they are taking the tape off and scraping the remaining mud from the window glass.	Kenny scraping the mud off the floor.
Texture applied to the popout in the garage below the stairs to the second floor.	Jay spraying texture in the utility room.	Texture around arched doorway.
Close-up of texture around arched doorway.	Texture in kitchen and dining areas.	Texture on ceiling in family room.
Texture around window.

Corbels and Mantel

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 12/17/2008 12:08:40 PM

William Chambers with Mesquite Unlimited out of Cut & Shoot, TX (near Conroe) is providing the wood corbels and mantel (and later the floor and cabinets).

Since we are putting a rock wall below the bar top, we are making the bar top wider than "normal" so you will still have some leg room when sitting up to the bar.  As a result, we are also bracing the bar top with 12" corbels to add more stability.  These are made out of pecan which compliments the mesquite mantel very well. 

For the mantel, we attached blocking to the surface of the wall the thickness of the rock which is about 5".  We then attached the mantel to the blocking.  This allowed us to have all of the beauty of the mesquite wood showing outside of the rock wall instead of embeded behind the rock.

After the installation of the corbels and mantel, we wrapped them with Tyvek moisture barrier paper so the rock mortar would not soak into the wood when the masons install the rock wall.

We will wait to put a clear finish on these until after the rock wall has been completed and the house has been painted.

Photos

Mantel attached to blocking.	Corbel attached directly to bar wall.	Corbels wrapped with Tyvek to prevent damage during rock installation.

Drywall

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 12/17/2008

Jay Ray did the drywall work.  I showed him the kerf in the wood doors that he would need to wrap the bullnose into.  He had not seen this done and was skeptical before seeing it.  He had done bullnose around a door, but it did not have the kerf which later caused the drywall to crack around the door.  My brother, William, recommend I do the bullnose around the doors.  He is putting the kerfs in the jamb for almost all the doors he is building these days down in the Houston area.

Photos

Randy taping the lower level seams.	Jay taping the lower level seams.	Sample of the bullnose plastic wrapped into the built in kerf in the door jamb.
We removed the wood doors from the hinges so they would not get mud splattered on them. Thanks Randy and Kenny for carrying these to the barn to get them out of the way. They are super heavy!	Randy taping the ceiling in bedroom 2.	Kenny mudding over all the screws.
Kenny and Jay taping the high seams.	Jay cutting the bullnose plastic to fit around the windows. He used some kind of spray glue (sorry I don't know what it was called) to attach the plastic to the sheetrock.	Bullnose attached to sheetrock around wood door jamb.
Jay cut the bullnose slightly to allow it to follow the curves in the arched doorways.	Randy putting mud over the bullnose to fill in all the holes and smooth it out.	Arched doorway floated around the bullnose.
Randy putting the final coat of mud around the corners.

Sheetrock

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 10/12/2008 10:17:04 PM

We chose Jay Ray's Drywall out of Seaton to do the tape, float and texture.  He doesn't install the sheetrock so I got Paco's Drywall to install it.  They requested I get 4x12 sheets and they underestimated the total amount by 50 sheets.  The cost of materials for me went up after September 1st so those last 50 sheets cost me an extra $1.50 per sheet.  Ouch!  They had neglected to calculate for the stairwell and upstairs room.

The installation went well and they completed it in two days.  I had them avoid the entry wall since the door was not installed yet.

I made sure they knew all the windows, arches and corners would have bullnose edging.  They cut the sheetrock short of the corners to make it easier when the bullnose material is installed.

I also had them use the green board for the areas that would contain plumbing or moisture.  The green board is water/moisture resistant.

They did the ceilings first and then laid the sheetrock horizontally on the walls.

Photos

Here we go, starting in bedroom 3 with the ceiling.	Leaving a gap at the corners for the bullnose finish.	Dining room with a vent cutout.
Oops! Who moved that vent? This was the only hole they missed and they came back later and covered it.	Sheetrock around the step-up in the living room.	Cutouts for the outlets. They had painted marks on the floor at every cutout location to make sure they got them all when they were finished. Great idea!
Green board in bath 3.	Work area in garage.	Measure it twice, cut it once!
Step-up in breakfast room.	Looking into the kitchen from the living room. We put up plywood and Tyvek over the bar wall because it will be rocked. The plywood helps with the stability of the wall.	Green board in master bath.
Putting in the arch entry into bedroom 2.	Cleaning up? Thank you so much!	Green board in utility room.
Arch dividing breakfast area and hall to utility/master/garage.	Arch at base of stairwell.	Master bedroom.
Step-up in master bedroom.	Green board in master shower. They put it on the ceiling in here because of the rain can shower head.	Breakfast area finished.
Kitchen finished.	Living room finished.	Dining room finished.
Office finished. Entry wall will be done later after door is installed and the arch around the transom is framed out.	Hallway finished.	Bedroom 3 finished.
Bedroom 4 finished.

Doors

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 10/12/2008 8:46:18 PM

For the external doors other than the entry, we are using a fiberglass textured door that can be painted.  The patio doors have the blinds built into the glass.  The entry, office and pantry doors are custom built from honey mesquite wood out of Mexico by Mesquite Unlimited in Cut & Shoot, Texas which is near Conroe.

We had the office and pantry doors installed before the taping and floating because we are using a bullnose edge around them into the built kerf.  The kerf is cut into the door jamb so the bullnose material rolls directly into it making a very clean and smooth look.  When using the bullnose this way, there will be no trim.  We are only doing the bullnose edging around the entry, office and pantry doors that are custom made.  These are the only doors visible in the primary living area.  All other doors will have standard trim.  The door jambs for the office and pantry are made out of pecan which blends very well with the mesquite doors.

Photos

Jose putting sealer down below door. They used the black roof cement that is used on the shingles.	Installing the French doors on the back patio. Both doors are functional, but one will stay closed with a pin lever.	I noticed a gap between the door and the trim around the door going into the garage and pointed it out to Davie. He had to cut some of the plywood out at the wall and reset it.
Installing the mesquite entry door. The glass for the door, side lights and transom will be installed much later on after the subs are at a minimal.	Mesquite office doors with pecan door jambs. The glass for these will be beveled glass and will also be installed later.	Installing the pantry door. It is also mesquite with pecan door jambs.

Brick / Rock - Exterior

Posted to Andel-Ranch by Teresa in Rogers, TX on 10/11/2008

We chose the Vernon King Size brick from Texas Premier Brick using a dark mortar.  The mortar is called 80H light chocolate.  Depending on the color of mortar the brick can look lighter or darker.  With the darker mortar we have more of a contrast between the brick and the rock.  The brick goes around the bottom 3 ft parimeter with rock the rest of the way up.  The rock is also used as the primary stone on both the front and back patios.  The brick is also used to outline the windows across the front of the house which is called a rowlock.  We are using a double rowlock of bricks around the windows.

Lee and Wes Lundy are providing the resources to set the brick and the rock.  We got the rock from Apache Stone which is a quarry just west of Salado.  We chose a 4, 6, 8 sized brick for a random pattern.  We had 48 tons delivered as a starting point until we could determine if we needed more.  Although they were very reasonable on their prices for the rock which I got delivered for $65 / ton, there are about four tons the masons are avoiding and calling "crappy".  They are basically odd shaped pieces that would take forever to shape into a square or rectangular piece to match the pattern.  And we still have some walls on the inside of the house that will need rock, so I'll need to order some more for that.  Too bad that last 4 tons isn't worth using or I would have had enough.

I was also able to get the masons to make the keystones (trapezoid shaped rock above front arched windows) out of some of the rock we had delivered as opposed to purchasing those pre-made which saved me about $100.

Photos

Bricks all line up and ready to go.	Brick on east side.	They used brushes to keep the brick clean as they were putting it up.
East wall brick finished.