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                                   Building Our House in the Caribbean

Step 53 - Plastering the Exterior
         
                                                 
    

                       Then we had to cut 4' x 8' sheets of durarock into strips 

     

        

    Next we constructed scaffolds and installed the durarock strips with tapcons and then mortared over the joints with mesh tape.
We would work for a week installing the durarock and then the plasterers would work for a week plastering.  Then we would move
the scaffold and start another section.  We moved the scaffold, which was rented, borrowed, and bought, more times than we can count.

       Clada chippered all summer, but there was more to do once we had scaffolding.

                                

 

                                                             
                      Clada had to paint on "the pink stuff" which is used to bond the plaster to the concrete. 
    It is a chemical that washes off so it had to be painted on a daybreak so it would dry before the plasters started working. 
She had to repaint one wall due to an unexpected shower.  People kept asking us if that was the color we were painting our house!

 
                 The plaster is mixed by hand, using sifted sand, cement, thinset, EZ Spread, a bonding agent, and water.

   
   The plaster was mixed on the courtyard patio since it was out of the wind and convenient to most of the walls.

   
                   One of the primary challenges was selecting which walls to plaster based on the wind conditions.
We opted to plaster in September and October because those are our least windy months, but we can still get 15mph breezes. 

                
                                            A scratch coat is first applied, then a final coat is smoothed on.

                                           

     Chip moved scaffold around and Clada picked up cement and EZ Spread as needed.  We used about seventy 94lb bags of cement.

    
                            
                                             We needed more scaffolding so we ordered a 3-set tower from Florida. 
                           This scaffold set-up required some real engineering since it had to connect at three different levels. 

                       It's still gray, but now we can put some paint on it someday!

  Plastering took two months, including installing the trim around the parapets.  We were exhausted because we worked 7 days a week!
                                                It was a huge job and we're so glad to have it completed...