Rendering Begins

The first coat of render was applied on Friday, the scratch coat. The idea of the first coat is to even out the wall surface and to give a key for following coats to adhere to.

The inside of the house was also started. Before the scratch coat was applied to the stair wall, steel rods were inserted to tie the large crack together. The opposite red brick wall was also tied to the outside wall with more steel rods:

On the first floor:

Various sections of internal plaster were also added to:

I also opened up the first floor fireplace:

It's a little unusual, as it shows signs of use (the entire fireplace area was full to the top with three feet of soot), yet there is no hearth or signs that there ever was one.