Wheres the gig . Gmc. Proud to lend a helping hand to hometime. Miriam one thing we want to do is show some of the details going into the deck and the screen porch out back so well visit that part of the construction as things come together here. But lets focus right now on whats going on out front. As we start our porch roof, were going to be using the same material as were using on the rest of the house roof. The main element is this dimensional shingle. There are a few other things in this system that you should know about. The first is a leak barrier. This is going to go over the most vulnerable parts of the roof. And then well have our roof deck protection which is going to go over the rest of the sheathing. The guys are using an underlayment thats reinforced with fiberglass which is a lot lighter than conventional felts or tar papers so theres more roof protection on each roll. Heres what theyre using to cover the membrane and the underlayment. This is a fiberglass asphalt shingle and it has kind of a layered look to give it a more dimensional look up on the roof. This particular color blend is known as midnight blush, and the overall effect is going to be similar to traditional slate but at a much lower price. Each one is 17x40s so theyre going to on pretty fast. And even though the shingles are the most prominent element at this stage, there are a couple of other important ones we should talk about as well. Mike schrader is here with his crew to get us started here. Now i know the starter strip is pretty important at the beginning. You want to talk about how these guys get started . Mike schrader sure. The starter strip goes down first of course with the desired overhang of the shingles depending if theres gutters or extra fascia. Its a factory made starter. Its not made out of a shingle. The perforated produce comes bundled up in two and you break them in half along this edge. The sealant strip goes down at the bottom as to seal to the back side of the first course of shingles. All the edges are straight and square which makes it kind of nice. Youre not working with a handcut edge. Miriam as far as the layout with a roof like this, how do you go about laying it out . How do you go about putting them up and stuff. first of all what we do is we determine the exposure of the shingle. This is a designer shingle. It has a larger than normal exposure. In his case well snap our horizontal lines 8s per course. From that, well jump over to a vertical line. And this has a 10 wide path so you split that in half into a 5 offset or a step pattern to gain a stair style starting point. From that point, we use a full shingle and we can just follow them up and it moves pretty quick after the starting process. Miriam so the purpose of it going up at a diagonal is . mostly its a color blend. Shingles nowadays are blended. Theyre not solid colors. And if you dont run them up according to the manufacturers specifications, the colors will clash. They want to have it broke up a little bit so it doesnt clash on one side or in clumps. Theyre a good shingle. Rigid enough to work with. Really they dont flop around on you. Good shingle. Miriam and what about the ridge . How do you deal with the ridge . the ridge cap is a perforated product not made out of the shingles anymore. These are double thick shingle product. Gives it some extra life. And theyre perforated. Theres 3 per piece. And basically what you do is you fold them each way just to crack that perforation loose. Couple of times if theyre hot. And pull them apart like that. And when you apply them, of course you snap a line down one side of the ridge or the hip whichever youre applying them to so you can get a straight edge. And then theres 2 nails per side. And theres a sealant strip on the bottom so it will stick to the one that you laid it on top of so everything is sealed down. Everything is to prevent wind blow off of some sort. Miriam exactly. So what can somebody expect from a roof like this . very low maintenance. An asphalt roof especially with a designer shingle like this that is now considered a lifetime shingle, it shouldnt have any problems from leaking or shingles blowing off because of all the extra sealants thats on the bottom of these shingles right from the factory. This should be a problemfree roof for quite a while. Miriam well theyre getting a great start especially considering weve had some iffy here and there. So thanks so much for your help. We appreciate it. thank you. You bet. Miriam after roofing comes the siding, and for this home its a combination of lap siding and shingles but both are in the form of fiber cement. The shingles are actually 4 foot panels that give you the look of cedar but with a lot less maintenance. It can be prefinished in a variety of colors but the plan here is to paint it after installation. The next thing to go up on the house is going to be the stone out front. Now theyre using a natural material known as quartzitic sandstone. Its quarried in oklahoma. And this is a thin veneer format meaning its about an inch thick rather than the 3 to 4s of a full veneer. But the front porch, steps and sidewalk have to be poured before starting the stone. So thats being done today. The guys have already prepped the forms, gravel and rebar for a stamped concrete treatment which should be very interesting because theyre adding the color right on site. Bryan cipala were basically forming up our porch here in anticipation that the stone, thickness, mortar and elevations are all at one particular height for them. Miriam well the way they have these all set up, the concrete is going to come right over the rigid foam insulation so when they take off the forms, its going to create just the right spot for the stone veneer thats going to be going on later. basically the installation is serving as a void for the stone crew thats going to be coming in behind us. Well have a nice overhang about 21 2s around the perimeter of the step and the porch. Theyll come in behind us, insert their stone underneath that 2 overhang. Miriam now heres the color and texture that they are going for. The color is a blend of 4 different pigments that they put in a dissolving bag and then they put it this bag for shipping. So when the concrete truck arrives, they just take out the dissolving bag well just throw those in and well get it mixed up. Miriam toss it into the concrete truck. As it mixes, it works its way into the mix and you get the color that you want. So bryan. yes. Miriam i have a question. I know youre really busy but for people who may not be familiar with stamped concrete, do you want to kinda go through what happens when you do it . ahh, yeah. Basically the concrete will show up. Well be adding the color to the truck that well be mixing for anywhere between 8 to 10 minutes. And then well just start pouring out the concrete from the far end all the way to this end. The process is the same as traditional gray concrete. We will lay it down. Well smooth it out. Make sure it has a nice crisp look to it. Miriam its a little bit muddy out here today but the guys are glad that the truck is able to back right up to the porch. Its a lot easier than carrying all the concrete by buggy. I know with the aggregate that youre working with that could be varied. So what do you use for this treatment . this particular application we have a 61 2 bag dampable concrete mix. Basically they eliminate a lot of the aggregate rock and put in more sand. So you get kinda a more fine finish and a more crisp look with your stamp when you stamp it. Miriam its always a good idea to agitate the concrete a little bit to make sure theres no voids or air bubbles and make sure that the concrete fills every nook cranny. How do you finish the concrete before you spread the release agent and then apply the stamp . well well be finishing the concrete trowel finishing it to take out any imperfections, any voids. Making sure that the concrete is totally level so the impression of the stamp looks uniform as the stamp impression is being installed. Miriam i think well talk about concrete curing rather than drying thats because its a chemical process. Its what makes it hard. Sometimes it can take days even weeks for it to fully cure but it can get pretty hard to work with pretty quickly so these guys work as fast as they can. here we have a decorative edger from 7s from our outside form in, were going to have a nice 7 border going around the perimeter of the porch. The outside perimeter of the border is going to be stamped with roman slate. And on the inside of the porch, its going to be ashlar slate. So you have 2 different stamps going on but there is a visual there that kinda complements each other when it comes to the 2 different stamps in the area that youre stamping. Basically the border is there. It just kind of dressed the inside of the work up a little bit. Miriam and then this is kinda part 1. Youre going to do the porch and then the walk and the driveway youre going to come back for, right . that is correct. You know, if you could control a smaller portion of concrete when youre stamping it, you have a better end result. After we have it installed and have it finetuned in and finish, then well start placing our secondary color that well be broadcasting across the top of the concrete that we laid. It also provides us a bond breaker between the concrete and the stamp so the concrete doesnt stick to the stamp. Miriam how do you know when its actually ready to start stamping . ahh, its kinda an instinct thing. Sometimes in some situations we can stick our finger into the concrete to kinda see where its at. And then we kinda know when to start. Knowing where were going to finish at from an impression standpoint. You want to make sure that you have the consistent stamp throughout the concrete install so you have the same impression from where you start to where you finish. At that point, we will start installing our ashlar slate pattern on the top platform of the step. Well be using probably 3 to 4 stamps that kinda interlock with each other. They have different stones on each stamp and as you stamp the concrete, you want to turn the stamp to have a different layment of the stone. The stamp itself varies between a quarter inch to a half inch and you want to make sure you get that full depth of the stamp impressed into the concrete. Miriam so it needs to be soft enough to take the deepest impression. exactly. Soft enough to take the deepest impression but at the same time, too, it has to be soft enough where were still able to run the consistent stamp design through the duration of the pour. Miriam yet firm enough where youre not going to sink into it. that is correct. You want to stand on the stamps and we have a rubber whomper that we use to impress the stamp into the concrete. A whomper, yeah. Miriam it is . or a tamper. A whomper. Miriam i like that. So how long do you have to work on the concrete . from laying it to actually stamping it and finetuning it i would say we probably have a 3 hour window from start to finish. Miriam now bryan is going to let the release agent sit overnight and then come back and wash it off. Hes also going to put a sealer on it but hes going to wait on that and do that at the same time that he does the driveway. once the concrete is set up and hardened, well come the next day pull our forms. Then well do a light wash on it. After spraying it off, we proceed on to adding a little bit of dish soap to water to breakdown the release color. Finetune that in. Not scrubbing too hard but just enough to get the detail between the 2 colors. After that dries, well put a sealer on there and thats kinda the final product. Dean now most garage doors face toward the frt of the house. Great for access but not so great when that door opens and everybody in the neighborhood sees the mess youve got going. It can be a little embarrassing. All it takes is a little bit of organization. Now what we really like are these heavy duty cabinets that come in a lot of different sizes. Tall utility cabinets. Base cabinets. Different types of uppers. Even a workbench. So that helps to get some of the clutter up and out of the garage into those cabinets. Now another thing we like are these track systems. You get them up on the walls. You can take the tools you dont have in the cabinets spread them across the walls so when youre looking for something, you just pan the wall. Easy to find. These come with a lot of different hangers. Well first of all you have sort of your general purpose ones. These you can use for hanging hammers, ladders, all sorts of different things. This is kind of a unique one down here. You can see it holding a bicycle tire. These are for hoses. On this one, a ladder rack here. And this is a netted bag that will hold all your basketballs, volleyballs and baseballs. And believe me well just scratching the surface here. Now one thing thats really neat is this little locking feature. You get it into position up on the track. Then you turn it sideways like that. It locks it into place. In pulling a few of these elements, youve have the best looking garage in the whole neighborhood. Miriam well bryan and the guys were able to finish the porch using about a half load of concrete. For the driveway, its going to take more like 2 full loads. Theyve already got the first half of the driveway done and now theyre working on the second half. The basic steps are very similar to what we saw on the porch, but of course the driveway covers a lot more square footage. So besides the spreading, finishing and stamping, theres also the issue of control joints which you always see on large stretches of concrete. And thats to limit the visible impact of any cracks that are bound to occur because of changing weather conditions. there are 2 options you have when trying to prevent concrete from cracking. One option is to saw cut the joints in the next day. Today we decided to hand tool cut em in. Were controlling where the concrete should crack. Were able to chisel the joints after we stamp it to give it that look of chiseled edge stone. Were making the concrete look like roman slate. A piece of stone. So the edges of the control joint we want to chisel them to look like a piece of stone. Then well proceed on to applying the secondary color and then start stamping. For people to control this much concrete which is about 23 yards of concrete, you need all hands on deck to attend to the concrete and stay ahead of it. Miriam now i know this is a roman slate pattern which matches up with what you have on the edge around your porch right . that is correct. Along with us installing a nice concrete, we like to have areas of stamped color tiein with each other. So with the porch in the middle, we have an ashlar slate square pattern and around the perimeter, we have the roman slate which ties with the driveway. So well tiein all 3 pieces of concrete together so visually you can kinda see the concept that were trying to portray. Miriam okay, and then youll be back to do the walk. that is correct. Well be back to do the walk. We have our step and porch. That height is established. Our driveway height is established. Both of them have proper drainage. Now we have the sidewalk in the middle where we can meet the 2 together. Dean bryan still has a couple of steps left on the stamped concrete but once the driveway is set up, the masons got rolling on the sandstone veneer out front. Thats Jason Cavanaugh and chris davis working the trowels out there. They got all the preps done yesterday so they can really go to town today slathering on mud and putting stone in place. The color blend is known as deep forest which has some dark blues and grays. Sizes range from 6 to 24s long and 4 to 14s high. That means the guys can set it in a fairly random fashion so it looks more rustic and less formal. And using this thin veneer format, the masons will tell ya, it goes up really really fast. So jason, what youre using here is actually real stone, right . Jason cavanaugh yes it is. Its just the face of a real stone. This is a face and what they do with a normal stone is about 4s thick. And what they do is theyd cut the face off. And then its easy. You can stick it to any wall. Dean so the reason for this is its cheaper to ship. Its quicker to install. mmhm, quicker to install and you dont need a footing to put it on. You can put it in the middle of the wall. Just stick it right on there. Dean and so how does it go on . How does the installation differ from lets say installing regular thick 4 veneer stone. well a thick 4 veneer, you start at the footing and you put mud down and you keep stacking it. This you dont need to stack it. You stick it. You put some mud on the back of the stone. And it just. Give it a little wiggle and it just sticks right to the wall. Dean and thats sitting on top of a mesh. well, weve got the tar paper. And then this is our weep system which any water does get back there, it weeps down the tar paper. Comes out the weep system. Theres little holes under here so we want get to there. It comes out the holes and then we put our mesh on and we put a brown coat on and then the stone goes right on top of that. Dean okay. Then what do you do once it sets up . How do you strike the joints and stuff . well what i do is i grab my grout bag and i get some mud in there. And we put the mud in the joint first. You start from the back and let it come out the front. And then you let that dry for a couple of hours and come back with a stick and just tool it out. Dean just like decorating a cake pretty much. yes, pretty much. Dean once you strike that i mean it looks like you have no idea how thick that stone is. correct, yeah. Because all you see is the very face of it. Dean and talk to us a little bit about the corners. How do they create that total illusion that it isnt. well the corners. This is your full stone would be this and the face. Dean so if you were installing regular veneer stone, the whole piece of stone would be in there. it would, yes. The whole piece of stone would be this thick square right here. What they do is they take a saw and they just cut both sides out so when you put in on the wall it would look like a full stone. Dean now its just pretty incredible the way they do this now today. oh, yeah. And the labor is a lot cheaper with this kind of stone than a full stone. Dean as an exterior cladding, the sandstone weathers really well because of its high compression and low absorption qualities. Thats what you look for in any climate, especially ones with a lot of freeze and thaw cycles that put a lot more stress on building materials. Miriam things are really moving along quickly now. Bryan has finished up the stamped concrete. Jasons wrapped up the stone work and id say our last landscape is about 90 percent there. Now bryan did have a chance to put in the sidewalk. He sprayed off the release agent. Thats looking really good. Once he gets a sealer on there, well be able to call that done. And the masons finished off the stone work so now you can get a better feel for how the sizes and colors actually look up on the wall. One of the last major items for the front of the house is going in right now and that is a set of garage doors. These typically take a few hours to install. These are sectional doors with 4 panels each and the typical technique is to attach some hardware and hinges, assemble them in the opening, put up the tracks, attach the spring and then set up the opener. With the garage out front on this house the garage doors play a big role in the homes curb appeal, so the carriage style design and trim is going to be a big plus. Jim lundbergs has been our point person for this particular project, and theyre making really good progress,