Rear facade & yard update

The sunshades (sometimes referred to as brie soleil - a French word meaning "sun breaker") were finally completed on the south facade and all of the fiber-cement panels have now been installed. Our metal roofer, Jason, was also at the house a few weeks ago installing the metal coping around the perimeter of the roof. He fabricated the coping from Zalmag, which is the same material that we used for the folded metal panels at the front mansard. By thinking ahead and ordering extra, we were able to have enough material for both. Check out our previous blog entries on Zalmag here and here. The whole profile of the house looks much cleaner now.

The only thing left to do on the rear facade is to install the final galvanized metal downspout that will attach directly to a rain barrel, with an overflow to the rain garden. We also intend to paint the exterior housing of the whole house fan the same color as the fiber-cement panels which will make it blend in a bit more. One other aesthetic decision that remains is whether to leave the sunshades as-is or to paint them. They're made from exterior grade FSC-certified spruce lumber so they can be left unfinished if desired. If we paint the sunshades, it would allow us to caulk a few of the connections that weren't at tight as we'd like. Of course we're contemplating all this after all the scaffolding has already come down, making it a little more tricky to access the sunshades themselves...but it is possible.

As of this week, we are finally getting the new layer of stucco on the side of the house (the outline of the original house) now that the temperature has warmed up a little. That will wrap up the major exterior work on the building, with the exception of the front steps, refinishing the front sidewalk, and installing the stormwater planter.

The photo below shows the formwork for the concrete curb around the rear patio. The curb will provide support for the sand-set paver area as well as help control any excess runoff and prevent unnecessary erosion. 4x4 wooden fence posts will be embedded into the concrete to ensure that they're strongly anchored. We're planning to build a 6' high vertical tongue & groove fence, with a gate that opens onto the utility easement. This will make it easy to bring trash & recycling from the backyard to the front curb without having to haul it through the house.

More updates soon- we have simply been too busy these past few weeks to keep up!