Window exterior is now complete. It took many small steps. The final step, for me as the owner, was, of course, cleaning it. But before that, it took many days of waiting for each coat of paint or bead of caulk to dry. I've learned that, perhaps because of the proximity to the salty bay, exterior paint on wood must be minimum three coats around here. And that's on top of at least one full coat of primer all around. Caulk was applied three times over, too. It takes only time and patience.
This is the egress window in Bedroom #3.
Back here I determined that 1x4 redwood was best — redwood for its natural resistance and 1x4 for enough "substance" to visually frame the window, while its shadow line was decent on the flat stucco field. It's also common enough to easily repeat elsewhere later. I backed it with 2x2's that filled the stucco gap nicely. The alternative would be using deck screws as a standoff to level the 1x4 at each edge, but I wanted something to ooze the caulk. Oozing is important. The entire trim assembly was first glued together in the shop, then nailed in place as a unit.
Cutting the stucco was the only nasty part of it. It's important to wear full protection that includes respirator, ear plugs and a full face shield. There's a lot of dust, smoke and sparks (from cutting through the stucco lathe). But with careful measuring and an accurate saw blade setting, it actually went faster than cutting through wood siding.
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