House Day 61 - We Took A Field Trip Today To Inspect Bellevue - The Catherine Murat Plantation House

Josh Wells - Gary Wayne Shiver - Joe Shiver - Gary Shiver. You remember Josh from the day he drove a nail into his leg bone. 

My builders have been doing an outstanding job working on our new home. So today we went out to lunch and then took a field trip. 

All morning they were working putting the Nichiboard Concrete siding on. At 11:30 - it was lunch time. We piled into our motorhome and headed to Hot Dog Et Al on South Monroe Street. I eat there often - they make fantastic hot dogs with about 20 different fresh condiments.

After we ate - it was back into the camper to the Tallahassee Museum. They used to call it the Junior Museum - many still only recognize it by that name. It is half Florida animal zoo and half historic Florida buildings. 

About 2 weeks ago Lulu and I bought an annual pass because the family is coming here for the holidays. This is already the 3rd visit I have made with the pass. You are allowed to bring 2 guests every time you visit.

There is a house in the museum that used to be west of Tallahassee on Jackson Bluff Road. It was owned by Princess Catherine Murat - widow of Prince Achille Murat. Murat was the nephew of Napoleon. During the early 1800s when Napoleon was in power - he made Murat's father the prince in charge of an area in Italy that included Naples. Catherine sat at the Prince's side in the good life. Then Napoleon met his Waterloo - and Prince Murat came to Tallahassee in the territory of Florida. There was a large French influence in this area. Catherine was a local - and when the Prince died - she bought Bellevue. She was much younger than the Prince - just like Lulu is 6 years younger than me. 

I wanted my builders to take a good look at Bellevue. Lulu and I designed our home as a Florida Cracker Plantation Home. When we visited the museum we were astonished how much our new home was like Bellevue. We decided to include many of the details of the Murat House into our home. 

When we were interviewing builders - two things that made Gary stand out. He had come highly recommended - but without even knowing about our interest in the Murat House - he told us about how he used to play in that house before it was in the museum. The other thing was that he said he was not one of those fancy builders that was always driving around in a new truck and could not be found. We have since built a strong respect and trust for Gary - even though he bought a new truck after driving his old one for 20 years. We must pay pretty well :-) 

Gary still shows up every day before 7 AM.

Time flies - we were back on the road. Before I knew it - I was back wet mopping the floors - cleaning up the mess of the plaster job. The rest of the afternoon had my builders installing siding on the north and west side of Seminole View. 

My builders on the porch of the Catherine Murat Plantation this afternoon. 

Applying Nichiboard siding on the north side of our new home. Nichiboard it made of concrete. It is really tough - hard to cut with a saw - it is impervious to rot and insects.

Josh and Gary Wayne do the high wire work. Joe and Gary do the ground work. 

Day 60 - More Siding and Plaster Cleanup

Monday - I have been very busy. While my 4 builder were putting siding on the house - I was inside cleaning up.

Plastering is very messy. We had rolled felt paper out in the attic to protect the plywood floor. We plan to sand it and put a clear coat on as a final finish up there. Still - there was a lot of plaster particle and dust. I started by rolling up the 60 foot long sheets of felt paper. that picked up most of the debris.  then I vacuumed the floor with my Sears shop vacuum. Vacuuming a 20 x 60 floor is quite a task -especially when it was this dirty. After a much needed rest - I wet mopped up the dust. It will probably need one more mop job.

Next I will lightly sand the plywood getting ready for the final clear coat.

Downstairs was even messier because they did not put down felt paper. Gary swept up most of it before I got there. Then I vacuumed two bedrooms - the electrical boxes - and the window sills. What a mess. I ran out of gas there - and decided it could wait another day.

All that time - they were siding the north side of the house.

Day 59 - Plastering and Siding

Plastering the attic is the final touch there. The attic is 20 x 60 x 10 feet. It is completely contained in the roof area. Like our chalet in Tamaqua and our guest house down here - we made full use of the space in the attic. 


Friday - a crew of about 12 men from Tony's Drywall and Plaster were very busy plastering the entire house. We used Blueboard for the walls. Think of Blueboard as a water resistant drywall with a rough coating on it. The tough coating allows the veneer plaster  to stick to the Blueboard. The entire surface of the board is plastered. Every single wall and ceiling gets a hard coat of veneer plaster.

Many of the guys have been working for Tony for over 20 years. Gary hires them all the time because  they do any excellent job - are dependable - and offer a reasonable price.

These guys are working in the kitchen. 

Notice the stilts to work on the 10 foot ceilings.

In the attic - this veneer plaster will be the final coat. There is no need to paint it. The attic has a 20 foot x 60 foot ¾ inch plywood floor. The floor is very nice with no knots. Since we plan to finish the floor with a clear coat - the crew covered the floor with felt paper. After the plywood is coated - the attic will be complete. 

While the crew of 12 plasterers were busy inside - Gary and the crew were working on the siding outside. 

House Day 58 - Blueboard and Veneer Plaster

Our house is attracting attention. Here the Goodyear Blimp stopped to inspect our roof. I am not kidding - they stopped - waved - and gave me thumbs up.

I was surprised then they started drywalling with this dark blue/gray material. It has a rough texture - and it seemed harder and heavier than regular drywall. I also wondered what the 80 bags of plaster on the back porch was for. I found out today Our house has been blue boarded instead of drywalled.

Bedroom 3 is in the SW corner of the house. Each bedroom has 4 corner windows.

Blueboard is a product that is replacing drywall in many cases. Mainly it costs less for labor to apply it. There are feeing steps and no sanding required. With blueboard - you hang the sheets on the wall with the blue side out. Then you tape and plaster the joint lines. Next you plaster the joint line. The night away you can put the final coat of veneer plaster on the wall. It does not need to be sanded - it is read for paint. Some people mix the paint right in the plaster to eliminated another step. You could also just leave the white plastered walls exposed.

This process leaves a much harder wall. the blue board is more water resistant. The plastic is essentially concrete and it is more resistant to dents. It is much easier to repair a hole - and the final repair is hard to notice.

The company that did our walls is Tony Williams Drywall. Two crews came to visit. First the sheet hangers and their holstered dry wall screw drills. It took them two day to hang all the dry wall. They did the 20 x 60 x 10 attic in about 3 hours. It was basically just suing full sheets.

Next the mudmen came with their stilts on. Our ceilings are 10 feet high and their stilts looked about 3 feet high. This way they could use both hands for plastering. The mudmen worked from 2 PM to 5 PM. At quitting time it was like a LeMans start - all the workers running to their cars and driving out on the street.

Click pictures to enlarge -

Gary loves to join in the action - here he is working under the steps. 

Gary Wayne was cutting the Hardiboard trim. The the exposed wood on the house is Hardiboard. It is like sticks of concrete - it really eats up saw blades. Notice Gary Wayne uses a mask when cutting this stuff. No use getting Miner's Asthma - in this case "white lung."

All of this beautiful insulation is covered up now. Hidden beauty. 

The drywallers were hanging 12 x 4 feet sheets. It is a lot harder than it looks - try it sometime.

This is a panorama shot of bedroom 2. I wanted you to see all 4 windows. 

The HVAC system is a work of art - now it is covered by drywall - with a little cubby hole door to service it

Lulu's kitchen looks like this. The frig goes behind that left wall. On the right is the door to a big pantry.

This is the gas fireplace form the dining room side. That is the front door on the right. 

This is the living room facing Seminole Drive.

Bedroom 2 and its tall closet.

This is the master bedroom after it received the veneer plaster coat.

Plastering is work of art. then try is on 3 foot stilts. 

This is the laundry room with just the joints mudded.

At 5 PM - the workers left - this plaster was left - still soft. tomorrow it will be a rock. 

The attic is one big room - 20 x 60 x 10. All that beautiful white foamy insulation is behind those wall. The HVAC unit is behind the left wall. This picture is looking north.

This is the attic in the other direction - looking south. The steps are behind those knee walls. 

Day 57 - Siding and Drywall Started

Gary Wayne and Josh started applying the Nichiboard siding on the front porch. This product is made of concrete - it is as tough as nails to cut. We use many new blades and face masks to cut it. It comes in 12 foot planks that are 8 inches wide - they overlap each other by an inch. In Florida - it is not a good idea to use wood siding - our present home has wood siding. 

The drywall hangers started today. They completed about 80% of the main floor. Tomorrow they will be doing the attic. It is a shame to cover up this HVAC system. It is a work of art. Tomorrow it will be hidden behind a 60 x 10 foot wall. There will be a small service door.

This is the drywall ceiling above the master bedroom. The drywall hangers are using 4 x 12 foot sheets. They panels are attached with drywall screws. This area will be hidden tomorrow by a 10 x 60 foot attic wall. Tomorrow I will do a full video of the hung drywall - before the tape and mud are applied. 

The roof is covered by open cell foam. We used SucraSeal - a product made in Sugerland TX. Yes it is a derivative of sugar. It uses water not poison gasses to produce the bubbles. It reminds me of an igloo. It is up to 12 inches thick on the roof - with an R5 value for each inch. This will all be hidden tomorrow by a 20 by 60 foot drywall ceiling. I was sitting up in the attic today in silence - getting melancholy for my insulation  :-)  As a science teacher - I always promoted insulation as an energy saver. It is super quiet up there. It would make an excellent sound recording studio.

In the attic - the wall on the left is where the attic will end. Gary Wayne and Josh - screwed down several sheets of ¾ inch plywood to act as a safety walk. It also will be a great place for storage bins. 

Day 56 - Insulation Done - Doors On - Porch Ceiling Stained and Varnished - House Locked Up

It was a busy day. The insulation crew was busy spraying the attic. We had contracted for 6 inches of open cell foam insulation - but in many of the places - the foam is about one foot thick. It reminds me of a meat locker. This is the most energy efficient insulation on the market. Two added features are that it is very quiet and very clean. 

The painters were busy staining and varnishing the porch ceilings. 

The doors were hung and temporary locks were installed. Door exterior trim was also installed. 

The tile man came and was doing measurements. 

We picked up the hardwood for the floor at Lumber Luquidators. It took two pick up trucks and a trailer to bring it home. We stored the hardwood in out metal garage. 

Tomorrow the drywall crew comes to do the walls. 

The front of the house is ready for siding. 

The painters worked in tandem to put on the ceiling varnish.

We used a new open cell foam called SucraSeal. It is energy efficient - it uses water to created the foam not harmful gases. Yes - it is a by product of sugar - very green.

Reading for the siding. 

Day 55 - Gary's 58th Birthday - Staining The Porch Ceilings - Roof Insulation - Keystones for the Windows

Gary is boxing in the porch beams.

Monday - Happy Birthday to Gary. He is 58 today. After 20 years of using the same truck - he got a brand new white Ford F150. Pictures later. 

It was a bustling day today. It started out with Josh and Gary Wayne doing the outside window treatment. The window frames are mainly a Hardiboard  - a cornice - and a big Pennsylvania Keystone above each of the 28 windows.  While that was going on - Joe and Gary were boxing in the beams on the front and back porch. As you can see - we were able to re-cycle the ends of the porch's 10 foot ceiling beach boards. We turned them over - bead board side hidden - and nailed them up.