Jeff Doubét takes you behind the scenes to a Spanish grille installation. A Santa Barbara Spanish-style home remodel where a 2″ thick cement window grille is being prepped for installation.  An Artisan builder checks the level on the cement Spanish grille he is positioning in the window opening. Getting it just right before he permanently secures it to the wall.

Days earlier, the custom designed Spanish grille had arrived safely- packed in a wooden crate and surrounded by foam.

I placed my (11″ x 13″) coffee table book on top, just to give you a reference for how it was delivered.

Spanish Grille Finish Detailing: What to Expect

As you can see in crate packaging photo above, the Spanish window grille is delivered as a rough cast concrete part. If you look close you can see a chip board texture in the cement finish. Chip board was used as a temporary mold to cast the cement part.

The rectangular cement slab was then cut with a waterjet to the custom design I created with a dimensioned drawing and provided to the fabricator. To look good, this rough cement part will need to be coated with stucco plaster.

Steps For Plastering A Spanish Grille (Before Installing It in a Window opening)

I happened in on the Santa Barbara Spanish home remodeling project while the Artisans were prepping the cement window grille for installation. As shown in these action photos below, the windo grille is being partially finished with stucco before it is installed.

ABOVE: The Artisan applies a first coat of plaster on the backside of the Spanish window grille. It is much easier to work on the stucco finish details while the grille rests flat on a table. Once it is installed vertically in a small window opening, it is much harder to do.

Here the Artisans refine the exterior plaster by using inexpensive paint brushes and steel trowels. As the cement stucco begins to harden up, the trowels are used to press and work the stucco into a smoother finish.

They are working on the interior side of the grille that will face the master shower- where this grille would ultimately be installed.

In these images, the guys are making sure the grille is level before committing to the final attachment.

I plan to update this post with more process photos. I have been side-tracked on some other things, but will eventually build out this page like many of the other longer posts on the site.

A Few Technical Tips for Installing an Exterior Spanish Grille

While planning your own beautiful Santa Barbara style Spanish window grille, be sure to plan for it’s functionality as well.

The permanently mounted decorative grille will need to drain properly. When rain penetrates through the open grille sections, the water will have to drain out the bottom.

In this completed AFTER photo, you can see three thin slotted holes. These slots allow the rain that makes it way through the open diamond grid- to drain properly out the bottom.

Another thing you will need to plan when designing a Spanish window grille is how you will clean the window glass, once the grille has been permanently secured in place. Typically, an “in-swing” window is installed prior to the grille being installed. To clean the glass, simply open the window and you will have access to both sides.

*Stay Tuned. Consider this page UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I will be updating it with many more photos, and additional tips for building a Spanish window grille into a project. See other Spanish grille projects I have photographed at my Santa Barbara Home Design projects.

Well friend, this wraps a very abbreviated site visit episode to a project in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA. Please scroll to explore helpful links and resources for designing and building your own Spanish-style home and landscape.