Walls and Gates - Week Nineteen

The foundation is in around the lot and walls are one meter high. Driveway and gate opening are lower for drainage. Going to have two people gates in case there is ever a privacy divider between the two lots. Mari has no car and doesn't expect to get one but you never know. Still she opted for no vehicle entrance on their side.

Soon will have to start thinking about gates (porton) and bars (reja). Something strong enough it can't be easily bent, not easily climbed and the locks out of reach. No I don't think it will look like the foto below.

Walls and gates across the front of the lot


Now what is that gate going to look like - this one, I don't think so

Building a swimming pool in Mexico

This Pool project is shown from start to finish. Sadly Barbara and I had to move out of this place due to landlord problems after she paid for the entire construction. Another lesson to trusting gringos new to Mexico. There is a link to a complete foto set of the project at the bottom of this page. Not sure if we'll get around to a pool on our lot some day but we should have the room for a smaller one

Cement floor directly on the sand

Double rebar around the sides and in the second floor layer

Side walls getting finished

Grounting in the tiles

Link to more fotos of this swimming pool project

Week of rest and cleaning up - Week Eighteen

Three days of no workers because Chui took his kids to Guadalajara to visit family. I moved most of the rock pile that was partially buried from the cistern excavation and spread some dirt around. Finally hired a neighbor to move the heavier rocks and finish spreading dirt. I came back yesterday to rake it out.

Next week they should be finishing up the side wall and starting on the front where we need a large gate for vehicles, a people gate and an electric pole.

Lot from the street

Lot from the top of the back stairs

Cistern patio and walls - Week seventeen

The top of the cistern would have made a huge table but at only knee high we would have had to excavate for seating. Nope wasn't gonna work so I asked them to make a rectangle we could use it as a small patio - covered someday. Here they are blending the rectangle top with the circular one.

The bottom foto is the foundation for the lot sidewall. Just ordered another 1000 blocks for the front wall foundation and the septic tank.

Cistern patio from the corner of the lot

Sidewall foundation

Construction of small house in Pinal Villa, Costalegre

Week Sixteen - Installing the Cistern

Brought in a backhoe on Monday to dig the hole for the cistern (fresh water holding tank) and the ditch for the wall foundation on side of lot. The tank is 2800 liters and cost $4000 pesos (less than $300us). At the bottom of the pit is a cement floor with rebar. They decided to put in 3 castillos (support posts) to tie it together. The form for the top is made a few feet away, also rebar reinforced. We'll see how easy it is to move next week.

It was the first time these guys had installed a plastic cistern (usually just a block box) so the plumbing presented a few new problems. We had conversations about venting, where the pipes go and height of the top above the tank. They had no problem with pipes coming out the top - but the top will be part of a patio. I talked them into another ring of block so pipes exit the side.

Next day I brought out our plumber and he had us turn the tank around so the 1" fitting aimed at where the pump will be. He also mounted the street shutoff on the front wall of the lot, made a spicket for garden water and ran the line back to the cistern. We then waited 'till after 1 pm for city water to start flowing

Building the container walls for the cisterna

Mixing cement for the lid - before the extra ring of blocks were added

Cisterna installed and plumbed with lid sitting in the background