The building continues

The Canadians are back for their second year of construction. Got a bit of a late start so this is only week three. Oscar thinks they can get the roof on before the end of January when they head back to Canada. I sure hope so. This place is in Melaque, across the canal at the foot of the hill on Bugambilias.

Everybody is happy

A new construction project in west Melaque

I've been trying to get this project going for Canadian friends

Across the back

Starting down the side

It's been a pretty strange trip so far with lots of misinformation and misunderstanding. Starting with a wanna-be lawyer who studied for a few years on Saturdays claiming she knew everything about Agrarian (Ejido) Law ..... she knew little. Then we/I had to deal with an extremely unhelpful Accountant who you need for Seguro (health insurance and retirement) for the workers. 

I finally got us in touch with C&C Constructores (architect and engineer) and they were very helpful even though they finally didn't get a contract to do the building. From them we learned Seguro is not required for any foundation work. They also suggested the Canadians get the Seguro rather than their Presta Nombre but they need a Resident Visa. Neither of those were offered as information from the accountant. 

So the big thing for me was getting the guys (my friends) that built my house this work and with all the uncertainty it was questionable what was going to happen. The bottom line was dealing directly with the workers turned out to be about half the price the architect and engineer gave us.

The maestro and helper are very easy to work with and really know what they are doing. The only issue is language and I drop over every couple days to see how they are coming and help with translations. So far it looks like work will continue through January. We'll see where they are at the end of January and maybe we can go a bit further if they leave me some money like they did before they got here.

Earth bag construction on the Costalegre

The builder and others also call it Adobe Bag and Superadobe construction but I'm not sure you couldn't use any clean dirt, either moist or dry. Nobody went into any detail on what constitutes Adobe ... as in; mud, clay, straw, fiber, etc. Lot's of sites and pages on this kind of construction "out there" so we'll find the best answers when the actual time comes. Personally I'd love to buy an adjoining lot to mine and experiment with things like this and a real vegetable garden.

The casita builder below has a screen name of Mazinka and lives in or near La Manzanilla north of us in Melaque.  He just suggested that the fill earth should have a certain amount of clay and sent this link - What is Super Adobe .  The video on the bottom just has some ideas for something similar but I much prefer the palapa roof and other local ideas.   Stucco or mortar directly to plastic does not sound secure and I would definitely try to attach chicken wire like they do on old Adobe restorations.

Floor patterns

There have been a number of jokes about "my hospital" and the mono-chrome colors so far. Workers wanted to cut tiles and make a design in the middle of one of the main rooms (same tile, different tile, now we need to shop?). Personally I don't mind a light mono-chrome environment. Light colors reflect light, you can see the dirt ... and you can see the critters.

I went to Interceramic in Melaque and they had nothing that fit my idea of a color scheme. Back to Cihuatlan where I bought most of the tiles and bought this green tile. This green tile is nothing I would buy as the principle tile for a room but thought it might work as an accent. I do think it's reasonable.

Now my workers want to outline this pattern with black, blue or I don't know what ... colored grout. I had to say sorry, the same grout for the whole house, "cafe champagne".

This center piece will also draw attention away from the walls that are not straight or aligned with the house

Tecata tiles are here

The tecata tiles arrived sooner than expected and late enough in the day that we had to leave then in front of the house over night. We also had to get a pulley and large rope used to pull them up the wall bucket by bucket.

Hugo pulling from below, Oscar handling the buckets at the top ... and me stacking them. From 9am to 1pm and 3000 tiles later they are up on the roof where they will be used

Pinal Villa, Melaque, Mexico

Making tecata tiles

An upcoming project is covering the roof with tecata tiles and I've been looking for a source for a few weeks. Finally found this brick yard behind Jaluco just past the new Melaque Bypass road. I put in an order for 3000 and he says he'll have them in 9 days (make that 7 now).

This guy also makes fine finish brick (in foto) on order and I was surprised to see a builder from Nayarit that has been building a number of gringo houses ordering more. His houses aren't intended to be stuccoed, just nice brick with mortar well tucked between. They look nice but dark inside for me.

The idea with my roof is it needs a slight slope for water runoff and they will do that with cement covered with these tiles like tiling a floor - and then covered with a thin cement wash. The extra layer is also more insulation, the tiles absorb moisture and the second 'floor' is a separation barrier.

Tecata tile drying in the sun

Stacked for firing with some fine bricks drying

Working in the brick yard

The whole family works there

The brick kiln fired with coconut husks

Beginning to paint

Why do rooms look bigger when they get painted a light color. Don't know but they always do.  My rooms are small so it makes a difference

This is the second coat (paso) of a mixture of sealer and white paint. I actually have 5 rooms that can be painted and I won't show you the bathroom - a strange under the stairs contraption that works but is not a visual delight. Another is the bodega that is full of stuff that I don't feel like moving. Another is the pumphouse that is also full of stuff and the tinaco above has been leaking - think it's fixed now. The last is the wash area upstairs.

Haven't painted in awhile, never painted new cement ... and never painted 10 foot ceilings. It's a workout.

Painting a small house in Melaque Mexico

Finally on the Map with newer Google fotos

Google Maps has updated their fotos of the area sometime last year so the project now shows on the map. I guess last year (summer '09) because last winter my neighbors build a garage behind me and it does not show in this view. Zoom in to get a closer look.

View Larger Map


Google Maps of Pinal Villa and Melaque

Last week at the place

Spent last week in Melaque moving stuff down and cleaning up the place. So much rain and water everywhere I only spent a day and a half on the lot. Roads were almost impossible if not paved. The tarp covering the trailer was in shreds from an earlier wind storm so now it's uncovered.

Lots of weeding and moving dirt around for better drainage. With another trip to CFE I finally got the power turned back on even tho I'd paid the bill over a month ago plus extra to carry over into November/December. More storage shelves for the trailer and bodega. No water again so I couldn't test for the one water leak I found last trip. It's an incoming line in the ground so not a big deal.

The new 5th wheel

I found this for sale on the La Manzanilla message board located in Boca de Iguanas. The owner offered to bring it down and set it up on my lot included in the reasonable price. I was originally told it was 23 feet but is actually 28 which makes a large difference in a trailer.

Next trip will be leveling, taking some weight off the axels and getting a temporary cover while we think about a permanent shed for rain and sun. They are now building a pump house behind the cistern and will run power and water from there rather than the front wall of the lot.

Here's a nice trailer cover I saw in Melaque but I plan on a shed roof supported by the wall behind when extended almost 2 meters.

Weed wacked the lots

After a week in San Miguel and 3 weeks up north I came back to grass (wild) and weeds almost 3 feet tall. Two days with my Ryobi weed wacker in this heat got most of it. Still have two rooms to go since they have no floors.

Double lot forsale in Pinal Villa - Just outside Melaque

Front gates installed

The front gates were installed yesterday and only the two front window bars remain for next week. They came late on Friday to install but we are only setup for 110 volts and their welder is 220v. Yesterday they climbed the wall and hooked directly to the incoming lines giving them the 220v.

Definitely not the strongest protection in the world but we can always beef it up later. This will work to deter people with a minor interest in looking around but there will be little there to see - kids have used it as a playground.

I've been moving the stacks of brick and block over to the side so we can level the lot and cover the septic. Still have to move a large pile of gravel and then a much larger pile of dirt .... so will probably enlist a neighbor for that. I want the lot level with a slight slope towards the street before the rains. Not ready for turf yet so may bring some grass seed to hold things together

I think on the last post I called the fencing material Maya Ciclon but on the ferretería bill it was called Malla Ciclon. Pronounced the same but interesting

Installers putting in the last section

Complete from the outside

Added the window bars this morning (the 5th)

Villa Pinal, Melaque, Costalegre

Week Fifteen - starting the front yard wall

The new project is the front yard wall with gate opening and space for air flow with security bars. Also installing drain pipes through the wall so rain water has a place to go without forming a lake. The driveway and gate on the second lot will have a low level entrance that will allow water to escape but don't want it collecting near the house. Yes, when it rains here it pours.

The stairs are finished in basic form so I've been studying finished steps in the area to see what we can do. The cover coat will be pure cement with a little sand for traction. You can make a 'bull nose' extension off the lip of the step formed with plastic pipe that looks very nice but may be trickier than I think.

Some second floor views and my neighbors progress on property walls.

Latest project is front wall and rain water drainage

Finished steps (basic form)

From top of steps looking towards the ocean and Melaque

Canadian neighbors progress - just walls this year

Pinal Villa house

Our lots in Pinal Villa, Melaque

These are fotos of our lots in Pinal Villa about a mile back from the beach and directly behind Melaque. I looked for lots for over a year and was about 2-3 years late to find real bargains. Prices closer to the beach doubled and tripled in that amount of time. Even though there were a number of lots in our price range back from the beach, many didn't have water or electricity. Pinal Villa still does not have Telmex (phone) services.

I found the lot in the first foto last winter but the family member of the adjoining lot didn't want to sell at the time. He later called us to see if we were still interested.

The two people sitting in the back of the first foto are Canadians who own three lots behind us and are building two casitas. They only plan to work on their place during the winter and I'm not sure they will finish this year.

The lots last winter with Canadians sitting on lot behind

Costalegre, Jalicso, Mexico

Building a house in Mexico

Building a house in Mexico
A small place in Pinal Villa, Costalegre

Pinal Villa is a small community about a mile behind Melaque, Jalisco on the Costalegre, Mexico.

I bought the first of two lots in November of 2007 and the second adjoining lot in the summer of 2008. What we paid is less important than to say they were equal to less developed lots that had no water or electricity and no neighbors to share the costs.

I've learned a lot and am still learning - but the first lesson was to fence and mark your lot well because the Ejido will just go by fence lines and ignore what your original paperwork says. We lost almost three feet off the back and a foot or two on one side. Many of the lots in Pinal Villa are un-plotted (not on a map) so had to be re-measured.

The cost of title transfer is only per square meter and doesn't matter if there is a house or vacant lot. For us it was about $2500 pesos. If the previous owner has not paid taxes or have receipts you need to pay the last 5 years - $100 pesos a year.

Building in Pinal Villa Web Page

Costalegre, Jalicso, Mexico