Paint, Concrete Polishing, and Windows

There has been slow, but steady, progress on the downstairs renovation project.

Painting:

We got a first coat of paint in the room. We are going with two shades of grey. Most of the room is a lighter shade of grey but the wall with the new windows will have a slightly darker shade. This is our "accent wall." After the first coat of paint was applied, the painter was reluctant to paint the second coat until after the concrete polishing was complete. He was concerned that dust and scrapes could occur. We agreed with his assessment and had him stop after the first coat. So he still has to come in for a second coat.





Concrete Polishing:

About a week later, we got the concrete polished. When we bought the place, the downstairs room had some cheap, adhesive tile squares on top of the 1956 concrete slab. As the room got demolished, we had the tiles pulled up since, somewhere in the design process, we decided to go with polished concrete instead of carpeting or tiles. The concrete slab that the downstairs room sits on was very intact for being fifty years old in earthquake-prone California along with being in a house with some creeping down the hill. There were no cracks. But there were some new patches that were part of the recent construction where the future sink needed to connect into the main outgoing water/sewer line which is under the slab.

Once we decided on concrete polishing, we began to notice it and study it everywhere. Look at the floors of Costco, supermarkets, stores like BevMo, and other strip mall drug stores.
And you will often find that polished concrete on most of the industrial floors you walk on. Sometimes you will see cracks or patches but the polishing just equalizes everything so that these imperfections--while still there--do not stand out as much. So after studying industrial flooring for awhile, we sought out a concrete polisher and went with a matte finish with no color. Depending on the company, you can get higher levels of sheen and also color the concrete.

For us, the mostly pristine slab did develop some cracks during renovation. this was probably due to us shifting the weight of the house with the piers or the temporary scaffolding while the wall was removed for the La Cantina door installation. Or both.

But we are very happy with the final product. Because of the previous adhesive tile, the concrete still shows some of the square patterns. But, based on our research, we knew that going in.

Windows
This week, the windows were installed. We had already replaced the windows on the top two floors, but didn't do downstairs, specifically awaiting this project. Unfortunately, we were no longer allowed to install the same double pane aluminum-framed window due to California's ever-evolving the Code of Regulations. The standards are updated periodically by the California Energy Commission to allow consideration and possible incorporation of new energy efficiency technologies and methods. So aluminum window framing is no longer accepted under Title 24 so our choices were fiberglass or vinyl. We thought we may paint the framing to match the upstairs aluminum, so we went with fiberglass (although more expensive) because it can be painted. It was also the better choice since we wanted the smallest framing option.

The new large picture window is now one solid plate of glass (the previous window had framing for two openings). The smaller window (which was where the door used to be) is a casement window that opens outward.