Today the stucco staging has paid off.  We have part of the first coat of stucco (the scratch coat) applied to the exterior of the house. They have only done half of the house today because they are doing it by hand.

The strongest of the crew is stationed at the mixer.  He shovels sand into the mixer and mixes it with water and some cement to create the scratch coat material or mortar.

Not only does the Strong Man have to shovel the sand into the mixer, but then he has to transfer the mortar to a wheelbarrow and shovel it from the wheelbarrow to a bucket and then carry the bucket on his shoulder to the guys on the scaffold.

Strong Man transfers the bucketful of mortar to one of the guys on the scaffolding (black shirt)

He pours the mortar onto a table made out of a piece of plywood in preparation for application.  The applicator (white shirt) then picks up the mortar on a trowel type tool

and slaps the mortar onto the exterior of the house to create the scratch coat.

Once the scratch coat is on the house, a trowel is used to press the mortar into the steel mesh and then the surface is 'scratched' so the next coat will bond well.  In the photograph below, you can also see the plywood table where the mortar is placed just before it is applied to the house.

A few overview shots show the stucco contractors hard at work, covering the monolith wall that contains the fireplace (guy with white cap at the back of the house) and the front of the house.

The rotunda for the amazing sweeping staircase already has its scratch coat.

A little later, the monolith wall is also finished

The garage exterior has been scratched today

as well as the entire eastern wall of the house.

While the stucco guys are hard at work outside (especially Strong Man), inside, the drywall contractors are still working to make the interior walls as smooth as possible.  Now they are applying a thin finish plaster known in the drywall world as 'glaze' made of this ProForm Topping.

The glaze is actually rolled on with the roller shown below and then smoothed with a hand trowel.  It looks very shiny when it first goes on - thus the name 'glaze' perhaps?

The study has been finished with the glaze and is looking nice.....

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain which is good for the stucco that has been applied because it is supposed to stay wet.  However, rain tomorrow also means that the stucco guys cannot continue tomorrow.    Hopefully they will be able to finish by the end of the week.....