Duderosa.com

2006-06-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Front of house view. Grading and drainage is now done on the front. They'll start doing the concrete forms and rebar work next week for the driveway and front sidewalk. The entryway will eventually be laid out in slate - same type used in the guest bathroom but a raw version versus the honed product we used inside.

2006-06-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Back patio concrete forms and rebar layed out and ready for the concrete pour. They'll do all the back of house stuff first and then tackle the front driveway next week.

2006-06-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Garage doors installed. Aluminum frames with frosted tempered glass panels. This type of door is more commonly seen at firehouses or mechanics garages but is now making its way into residential projects like Rancho Duderosa.

2006-06-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

When it's all done, the floor looks like this.

2006-05-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a close up shot of a section of the great room floor where you can already see how the darker dye has interacted with the stain. More to come tomorrow after the floors are swept, washed, and another light coat of stain is applied.....

2006-05-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

Later in the afternoon - here's the great room floor almost dry. This will sit overnight to completely dry out and then the powder will be swept up and all the floors will be washed.

2006-05-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the great room immediately after spraying. Notice the lines in the floor. The original plan for the house was to stain the concrete instead of doing a wood or tile floor. Alan designed these cut lines to create an interesting floor pattern.

2006-05-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

That small section of hallway looks like this immediately after the dye application and spraying. And in case you're wondering, the muriatic acid in the stain gives off a fair amount of gas so there's a strong and not so pleasant smell that goes along with the process.

2006-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Kip sprays the stain over the powdered dye that has already been sprinkled onto the floor.

2006-05-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the dye itself after loading it from the gallon jugs into hudson sprayers.

2006-05-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

Kip - the stainmaster - preps the powdered dye prior to starting the job.

2006-05-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the winning swatch and how it was done. It starts with a single color of acid stain with a darker color powdered dye sprinkled on to the floor like parmesan cheese on a plate of pasta. As the stain - which is concentrated with muriatic acid to aid in penetration - reacts with the powder, it releases the powdered dye into the floor giving it that reddish flowing tint you see in the image. Once this first step is completed, the floor is swept up, washed with water, and as soon as everything is dried, a second light coating of dye is applied again to the floor to further set the color. Finally, the polyurethane goes on. Voila!

2006-05-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

First, you turn a corner of the garage into a testing area and experiment with various stains, powdered dyes, and sealers. Seen here are 8 different swatches. Each one followed a specific recipe which is written in blue tape below each rectangle. We tried single colors of stain, layered colors, colors plus powdered dye, and various concentrations of stains to give them lighter or darker tones.

2006-05-22T20:03:00.001-07:00

To something that looks more like this?

2006-05-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

How do you go from this gray concrete?

2006-05-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Metal shroud added to the top of the chimney to obscure the view of the flying saucer shaped spark arresters that are on the top of each chimney pipe and return the roofline to its intended angular look. This is galvanized metal and will be painted to match the roof color.

2006-05-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Perspective view of the garage and roofline with lights installed along the front.

2006-05-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Angled view of the lights hung on the exterior of the garage.

2006-05-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

More lights! Close up view of the exterior lighting fixture.

2006-05-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Let there be lights! Exterior sconce fixtures were installed in all but two locations around the house today.

2006-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Comet dives headlong into her brand new inflatable pool to fetch out a toy.

2006-05-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Doors - all stained and ready to be re-hung.

2006-05-18T22:03:00.001-07:00

Corner jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.

2006-05-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

Sealed indian multicolor slate in the master bathroom. Grouting is still left to do plus at least one or maybe two more coats of sealer.

2006-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Great room left column and fireplace.