Sane construction

2 1/2 floors up

What sane person would build something this tall that's dangerous and expensive to work on .... but nobody has ever accused Crazy Jimmy of being sane. Now he's screening in those huge openings, mosquito screen in the top sections and shade screen below. His airplane wing did survive Hurricane Patricia last year but we'll see what happens to all that screening in the storms.

He's also built on the lot line on two sides so if he ever wants to work on his house he will need to ask permission for access through neighbors yards. Their property is the size of five lots so why he wanted to "paint himself into a corner" I can't imagine. 

Give it a sloped roof so it does not look like a Mexican house but your slop dumps water into neighbors yard ..... so you have to build drainage and use a 10" plastic pipe down the front of the house to handle the water. He's also got a window that looks into a neighbors yard which is illegal.

Last Saturday for construction

Four more days starting Monday and then the Canadians will head back North  A tiny bit more than two months and they got a lot done. It was planned for a full three months but much confusion about Seguro and a crazy Presta Nombre that had to do things her way even if they made no sense. We're hoping next year in November things will be a lot smoother.

Building my house we had many Carne Asada parties and we figured their last Saturday was a good time to have one.  Good food, fun time and lots of beer.

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.

Finished another 2 weeks work

Got the same good crew back that built the bodega and plan to finish the plumbing, electric and roof in the next few weeks. Made a lot of changes of windows and doors, opened up the inside of the house, added another room off the front side. Extended the bathrooms a few feet so everything is inside. No sink in the bedrooms (motel style). The roof also had a 20mm pitch and we decided to level it for future construction above. I eliminated the back bathroom and will just use the old bedroom area as a bodega and workshop.

Next week will be the wooden supports for the roof pour and then installing the electric and plumbing on top of the supports along with a large amount of rebar. We also decided to run a beam the length of the house that will be hidden inside the cement (not showing above or below).

Foundation of new room

Walls almost up on new room

New doorways through the house

House construction Mexico Videos

These are a semi-interesting set of videos if you are considering building and living in Mexico. Not really new information to anyone that's been here awhile. I imagine they were created for those considering Mexico for retirement.

This guy has his prices of construction lower than most can manage but this is his third house in Mexico and he's been here awhile. Looks like quality work too if you check out his perimeter wall. Masons that will build a wall that does not have to be stuccoed after are rare.

Week Fourteen - the Stairs

The stairs took a little over a week and are finally usable. I left the run and rise up to Chui and I would have been happier with a higher step and more foot room. Not sure if that could be done with one less step and make them all a little larger or if it's trickier than that. The next set of steps will be 12 inches wide at least. Going up is fine but coming down is when you need more foot space.

So anyway you see the 'ditch' cut in the brick for the bed of cement to sit on and the beginning of the forms. Next is the bed of cement. When putting in the steps, he starts at the top because he can't work on newly set bricks

Beginning of support forms

Cement bed to set the stairs

Stairs started from the top and small bodega below

Mexican stair construction in Pinal Villa