More rain preparation

In the previous post you can see the beginning of the drainage we turned around from the yard next door - into my yard. You just can't dump any amount of water on you neighbors no mater how small the amount. It's now all stuccoed, sealed and painted just waiting for impermeabilizante covered cloth.

Second project was beefing up my front sidewalk. Three downspouts dump water on it, ants build caves under it, chickens excavate the edges looking for bugs .... and then there's the kids who like the sidewalk and the dirt in front of it. I told Hugo generally what I wanted and let him make the design decisions. I like what he came up with. A little more on the driveway to go.

The final is my north wall.  Because someday (maybe never) there will be a house up against that wall I didn't worry too much about the stucco and it is pretty sloppy and very ruff. I also cut corners on properly sealing and painting it. Shoe had a couple 5 gallons of cheap paint that was old so I mixed that with a little sealer and some decent paint but not semi-gloss. I'll only paint with semi-gloss from now on.  

So I figured I'd clean it up, primer a few areas and let Hugo go at it with a roller. Turns out I have wire brushed and/or cleaned with Clorox almost the whole wall. Also it's so ruff that doing a good job with a roller is almost impossible and you can't see your holidays 10-12 feet above you.  I will end up painting that whole 20x4 meter wall with a brush. Plenty of other painting for Hugo.

The second sidewalk

North wall mostly painted - sealed the bottom section today

20 meters by 4 high

The fallen sink mystery .... etc

I awoke this morning to find the outside sink had fallen off the wall. I first thought of a person in the middle of the night but you don't accomplish anything by standing on the sink. I also wondered why I didn't hear it as it's not far from my bedroom door that has a screen in it. All I can think of is my cat or it fell off of it's own weight. Simple white sinks are not expensive and only part of the drain pipe broke.

Bought a new sink for $240 pesos (basic white) but think I'll change everything including the handles/faucet., drain, wall fastener and larger screws to hold it on the wall.

Oops !!

The other is my tinaco is suddenly overflowing.  I climb up and find the float overextended in the up position and the tank full.  I lower the water level  and I can not over extend the float manually. We have moderate street pressure today so I'm eliminating possibilities.

The mystery float

My unnecessary "don't drop them in the tinaco trick"

Hugo came over while I made the school run and figured out the water was not coming from from above at the float valve shut off but from the bottom of the tank. I knew with this strange system that could happen but it never has in 3 years. My plumber thought with the good street pressure we have much of the time, why not have street pressure in the house rather than just gravity from tinaco.  So he installs these check valves that will change with pressure levels. Problem is the valves get stuck and this one usually gets stuck where tinaco pressure is not enough to open it so I bang on it to get water again.This time it got stuck in the opposite direction so that street water was enters the bottom of the tank.

Check valve - valvula check

Obviously something has to be done someday but I'm afraid it's gonna take pipe cutting, rearranging and even turning the tinaco to give more room for adjustments now and in the future.   In the meantime a couple whacks with a hammer or large wrench fixes the valve.

Under ground water leak

I've been watching this water leak for a few months. I thought a leak and others thought just from a drip from the filters above.  It finally had a little stream of water even if ever so slightly.   The ground here swallows water very fast so very easy to miss a small leak.  I vaguely remember the ridged black pipe we were using was just a little short and not flexible for a turn like this.   It lasted a couple years but eventually decided to disconnect. May have been effected (was effected) by settling under the water spout.  

A two day project and more digging than I want.   Had to decide on the flexible hose to make that connection because the rigid black pipe is not flexible and basically brain dead.  20 pesos a meter for the clear stuff, very flexible and as strong as the black stuff. Actually both are easier to work with if they sit in the sun a few hours. The weak part are the hose clamps that corrode and become useless. A soldered copper pipe from one end to the other is a better solution.

Keeping the pool clean in this heat

A few weeks ago the water temp went through the roof and started turning green. That's the first time in over 4 months. I gave it a good hit of Shock and surprisingly it was clear the next day. Now I just give a hit of Cloro out of the bottle every morning and it's doing fine even with big crowds.

I gave up doing the chemical testing for PH and CL. It just didn't seem to be doing anything for my knowledge or helping the pool. I will get some more Shock but adding acid in any form was just a waste of time and money. I stopped by the local pool store to see what could be done for vacuuming and the kid that works there gave me the best tip. Just get about 4 meters of 3/4 or 1" hose, get it siphoning and suck out the stuff on the bottom. Good excuse for me to get into the pool.   Every time you vacuum the level goes down so a chance for some fresh water. 

Impermeabilizante on the Ramada

I'm about 3/4's finished with the Impermeabilizante on this roof that was letting a little water through. I was surprised with the angle that water didn't just run off but cement is porous and a thin wash of Impermeabilizante wasn't working. This time I'm putting down a fiberglass cloth with Impermeabilizante below and above it. There are two grades of the cloth - thin and thicker. I'm not sure how much thicker but it's probably what you want to use if putting down large pieces. The thin stuff I'm using is hard to control and impossible with a breeze. I'm forced to cut 1 foot sections off the 1 meter roll and lay them down with a paint brush. I start in the morning before the wind starts and before the sun is too hot.

The rest of the time I'm working in the garden which has suddenly awakened in this winter weather. A dozen or so baby Neem trees below their parent, tomatoes sprouting out of the compost pile, lime trees are in bloom and the Avocado tree has come to life after doing nothing for almost a year. Gardens are a good thing.

Impermeabilizante on the Ramada

Roll of the fiberglass cloth

Avocado tree finally coming to life

Cleaning a cistern

Every now and then you need to clean your cistern and I was totally unsure how much mud and sand was in mine. All I knew was that the intake valve was often plugged after non use of my pump and the first bit of water was always dirty. The first year the system had no filter for water from the street so I thought it might be serious but there turned out to be less than an inch of mud. My intake valve is 4-5 inches above the bottom so how it got plugged I don't know.

I drained most of the last 5 inches with a bucket and then we lowered a neighbor in and he finished the job with a sponge, rags and a little cloro. I imagine with double filters the cistern will be good for 3-4 years now.

Entrance under the palapa

Yony inside partially cleaned

I just liked this foto

Keeping the water out

The one meter wall around the roof level was left uncovered block and I'm convinced part of the roof leaking problem was water seeping in through the block even though the block sits on top of the cement roof slab. I may be wrong but it definitely looks better, I'll be able to seal and paint it and will be able to run the impermeabilizante 20mm up the wall.

The other water issue is the windows. I like the steel frame windows but they don't seal well when rain water is blown against them. I took care of the side windows with plastic in a wood frame but the two front kitchen windows have water spouts above them. When the wind is blowing there's no way to keep that much water out. That's what the small awning or marquesina is for in the bottom picture. They'll start stuccoing it today.

Newly stuccoed wall

Marquesina made with foam panel

Not a gravel yard for me thanks

Against the advice of a few people that meant well I went with grass. This will mean more upkeep and water but but a gravel yard just does not get it for me. This is Bermuda grass and I got it through the vivero (nursery guy) near the Jaluco intersection on the way to Barra. Also got two lime trees from him.

I ordered 50 meters and sent some home with one of my workers. Price for the pasto (lawn) was 35 pesos a square meter. I think I overworked placing and cutting and didn't drink enough water so stayed in bed 'till noon today.

Still have almost half the property unplanned except for a few trees and plants. Think it will just sit while I finish the house. Hugo started painting grout joints with sealer today and I'll join him tomorrow.

The new lawn

Well the yard is cleaned up, gravel and sand moved, septic covered and pretty much leveled to handle some heavy rain. I was thinking about bringing in some turf of the Bermuda or St. Augustine type but it would just be ruined if and when construction ever starts again. So I cut a bunch of plugs out of my garden and planted them around the septic to both hold the earth and mark it's location (no vehicles). For the last three weeks we've had water all day - every day, and sure enough when the grass goes in - no water. I've been taking those five gallon jugs of water out every day .... because stupid me drained the tinaco.

Here I go again with another bottle and see if we have water yet ....

The new lawn (pasto)

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

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

My Canadian neighbor putting in a Cisterna

Our neighbors have finally started work this year and began with lot clearing and a cisterna, aljibe or water storage tank. Lots of talk about how to do it, plastic or a cement box, both building a protection wall for the plastic or just put it in the ground. He decided to to do both with a block wall around. Also discussed if it should have a cement floor because the block enclosure can collect water during the rainy season. He opted for a cement floor - we'll see

Protection wall for the plastic cisterna

The plastic cistern