We wrote 36 Garden Odyssey episodes describing the process of designing and constructing our gardens. We're still on that journey but we've given up the numbering system! That said, this is the first of three posts describing the process of covering the tea house with stucco.
HE SAID: We planned from early on that there would be a "tea house" located at the top of the rise near the upper pool. It's indicated in the plan below by the small black rectangle on the upper right. (The large black shape in the center is the house and deck).
While we worked on the pond and other structures in the garden, I went through a whole series of design ideas for the "tea house." Sometimes it took the form of a tool shed; sometimes a roofed bench. At least one design combined the two.
Eventually there came a time when I had to make a decision. After working with a mock-up made of a few blocks and boards to get a sense of an appropriate size, I committed to a 7 x 9 foot building.
From the beginning I pretty much made it up as I went along. There were constant adjustments based on standard sizes of materials. For instance, I didn't want to have to cut any of the tumbled, colored cement blocks I used for the foundation. So their size determined the final footprint.
As much as I might have liked to use traditional Japanese joinery to construct the frame, I knew my carpentry skills were not up to it. But about this time, I inherited a radial arm saw from my father that allowed me to make a reasonable facsimile of traditional joints.
Roofing the tea house with cedar shingles was also a challenge for me. I'm grateful for all the great information available on the internet. I'm not sure I could have managed this project without it. An interesting side note on the roof: because the underside was going to be exposed, I used four different lengths of roofing nails, depending on the thickness of shingles in any given spot, so the nails wouldn't poke through.
After doing the mockup in 2004, the roof in 2006, and making little progress in 2007-8, I was finally able to install the 2-inch pink styrofoam in the walls in summer of 2009. I then made temporary windows of 1 x 2 inch frames covered with plastic sheeting to fill the window and door openings. This protected the interior from the elements — and squirrels — for the next two winters.
My concept was to fill the 3 and 1/2 inch wall spaces in the timber frame structure with a "sandwich" made of 2-inch styrofoam with a 3/4-inch layer of stucco on each side.
The only place I had seen something like this was in factory made panels that would be assembled on site. There was little or no information about how to do what I had in mind. Once again I found myself making it up as I went along.
The problem was how to get the stucco to adhere to the styrofoam and how to get the whole sandwich to stay in place.
I started by "nailing" expanded diamond lath to all the styrofoam surfaces, inside and out, with plastic headed nails. The lath has a proper up and down as well as a back and front. If you put it on wrong the stucco will tend to fall off when you try to apply it.
Everything seems to be harder and take longer than you expect. Cutting the lath to fill all of the odd spaces on the tea house was definitely hard on my hands; but over several weeks I got it all cut and installed.
The plastic headed nails I used to hold the lath in place on the styrofoam were only temporary. They didn't have enough holding power in the insulation to be of much use in holding the stucco on. To create the "sandwich" I drilled sets of holes through the styrofoam and tied the interior and exterior lath together with loops of stainless steel wire. I made a wire loop approximately every square foot. This may have been excessive, but I figured better too many than too few.
The tea house nearly ready for stucco.
. . .
SHE SAID: For readers using the metric system, 1 inch = 2.5 centimers and 1 foot = 0.3048 meters to give you an idea of the size of the elements that Mark is using.
Can't wait to see the finished tea house. I am familiar with working with wire mesh. It can be very difficult and one's hands get all scratched.
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Monday, October 24, 2011 at 10:03 AM
All this figuring out as you go along is probably keeping you young, Mark - or at least slowing down the brain's aging process. I'm anxious to find out how the stuccoing process worked out.
Posted by: Barbara H. | Monday, October 24, 2011 at 02:16 PM
Such an exacting project but one you have met so well. Having experience ourselves with stucco,have fun! What a sense of accomplishment you will have when all is finished.
Posted by: Lancashire rose | Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 07:46 AM
Wow, can't wait to see the finished product! I also wish I was that talented. And/or brave. :-)
Posted by: Jean | Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 11:49 AM
Jenny — I love all your stucco. You live in such a beautiful environment.
Jean — I have to say that I think it is definitely a combination of talent/bravery. Mark is talented as an artist but he also leaned some carpentry skills from his father. And once you have some successes learning by doing, you are willing to tackle unusual projects. The big thing is that they are always bigger and more difficult that one realizes at the start — or you'd never take a chance!
Posted by: LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD | Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 02:46 PM