We plan to stain and etch the slab with acid. Construction Supply in Austin very generously gave us a couple of different stains to test. Since we have no experience doing this, we decided to test a small area back by the pet door (they're color blind and won't care). Here, we have an aged copper color on the left and a bronze color on the right. We were pleasantly surprised at how easy these chemicals are to work with, as well as the results. This photo taken shortly after initial application.
A closer look at the colors and the tools involved. A brush, some clean water, masking tape and good ventilation get the job done. We will be attempting to make our concrete look like the inlaid marble flooring in a Roman villa - a task we feel much better about now that we've gotten such good results in our initial testing.
A member of management inspects the work in what will become The Wife's dressing area. I continue to fill in small sections of the walls back here in preparation for beginning the work on roofing. The lintel over the arched window was typical of the unglamorous but steady progress towards finishing the walls. The arched cattle panel towards the rear was me contemplating putting a barrel vaulted roof back here, an idea I decided to forego.
A good example of the flexibility inherent in this dry-stacked block building method is seen here. We ran out of the 8x8x8 blocks which we need for the construction of walls - regrettable, but not surprising for a DIY project. Instead of stopping construction and running off to get another load, I use pieces of block and some Liquid Nails to keep building the walls for the bathroom in the master suite. I was able to bring in another load of 8x8x8 blocks later and place them in the notches with the help of my trusty deadblow mallet.
A look at what will be wall niches for some of The Wife's tchatchkes. In laying out the house, we take advantage of the hollow block cores as openings in the walls for fan vents, utility conduits, joist pockets and wall niches. This is typical of the unexpected flexibility of concrete blocks (or CMUs for Concrete Masonry Units) and a nice benefit of the dry stack block method of construction.
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