Four weeks on the foundation

Moving right along again. Filling up the spaces and ready for the section across the front. They waited on that so the backhoe could get in and out. About 3 more weeks to go until next year.

Building the foundation

This is three days of foundation work but they are nearly finished after the first week. The delay is mostly because of the hand digging required because the backhoe didn't go deep enough towards the rear of the lot which is higher than the front. The albañil (mason)says the backhoe guy wasn't experienced enough ... but the albañil left me to oversee the digging and I didn't know what they had planned.

So here they are laying out the perimeters and finding level with the "water in the hose" trick. The castillos (support columns) are almost a meter deeper than the bottom of the foundation and spaced 5 meters of less

Water level

Finishing off the ditches

Foundation and castillos

The second 1000 blocks arrive

Digging the foundation

This is the second day for the backhoe and he'll be digging the house foundations. The house is approximately 19 meters by 5 meters with 3 bedrooms and a larger kitchen and living room. All rooms will open onto a ramada (covered porch) with no interior hallway. This is tropical living.

The water guy showed up the same day (late) and didn't dig the ditch as deep as he originally said. He did include the fancy connector from 2 1/2" pipe to 1/2", the hose and a brass faucet. $1100 pesos may not seem like much but compared to the other work being done it is. This guy was referred to me by the Municipio ... but if we do it again, we'll do it ourselves or hire a plumber. We may re-dig the ditch deeper later.

The water guys showed up the same day

Clearing the lots with a backhoe

Jorge cleared the lots of all the undergrowth and smaller stuff and then found a friend with a chainsaw for the trees. Multiple fires got rid of the brush and branches but there was much we had to haul away including the stumps the backhoe removed.

Lot cleaning with the backhoe took one day and he came back the next to dig the foundations.