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.

Moving right along

West Melaque Project

That back wall is not the edge of the lot, it's the first foundation for the house. Oscar is laying rock down the middle that will divide the kitchen from the back bedroom. Going very smoothly and the workers have Seguro even though they don't need it for foundation work. They got Seguro because their Presta Nombre is a totally crazy and paranoid woman. She acts like she thinks the lot is still hers.

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.

Between the walls

Not the way it's normally done but we have to live with it. The first year my Canadian neighbor behind me just built a foundation and headed north for another summer. I was ready to build but didn't want to undermine his foundation and wasn't quite sure where he would put his wall. My solution was to give him 10-12 inches without considering what we would do with that space. 

We did fill when he built his 2 meter wall but for the last two years the cement covered fill was ramped toward a vacant lot next t me. Dumping water on a neighbor is a real NO-NO around here but probably anywhere. That lot owner is not a real pleasant person so best to not attract her attention.

So this year Jimmy (Canadian neighbor) wants to add a meter to his wall and where it will finally end up. I insisted it was time to fill that space and aim what little water there is in my direction and not at the neighbor. Gladly Jimmy had lots of escombro (building construction leftovers) in his yard and some sand to top it off. I bought 2 bags of cement and we went to work putting about 3 inches of cement over the top. Also had to brick in the opening to my neighbor yard and Jimmy did a reasonable job on that.

We have the slope about right but have not fine tuned how my garage roof will handle it. I'm thinking a tube  with holes that distributes the water .... we'll see.

First pour in the direction of my garage

Small pour on the dead end side

Newly bricked up and finished old drainage end

Crazy lot lines

Circular columns in place

The columns are up still in the cardboard tubes. They say it doesn't matter when you remove the tubes because the cement shrinks as it ages making it easier. I had them cut off almost a foot and a half from the tops today as the outside edge was just too high and would give less rain protection. Also thinking it would look better lower. For something this heavy (20 sq meters of cement) it has to attach to the re-bar in the roof so height adjustment is not totally flexible. The old marquesina is only a foot wide and made of Styrofoam panel. This will be over 4' wide

With the new angle we're talking about using curved tiles instead of flat over the cement. I really like the look of curved tiles but you can't walk on them if you need to paint or work above. Only the bottom edge of curved tiles are cemented down so maybe the uppers can be moved for access. Next week is renting a machince to cut into the roof and it's rebar and rent some staging so they can work safely 3 meters up.

Foundation footing

Columns in place

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

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

Building the foundation - Week Three

Week three. They finished up the dalas and added foundation walls and dalas for three bathrooms. We then needed fill inside the foundation to put the slab on. They couldn't find anyone they knew that would deliver so I went out yesterday and talked to a guy on the carretera. He was a little vague at first when he could do it but showed up an hour later with his 'tractor'. He leveled out and moved what dirt we had into the house and a half hour later the BIG truck showed up - three loads total.

The dirt (arena) is from Aguacate and looks like sand but has clay in it that compacts well. There are a few large pieces in it that are cement stone like but break up easily. This stuff is what is normally used below a slab. We ended up with about a 1/2 truck extra and will have to use it elsewhere.

Can't spread it out over the yard as it will make terrible soil for a garden. 3 truck loads and the tractor for half a day was $2500 pesos.

Double load

The tractor

Foundation is full - with watering or rain it will compact

Pinal Villa, Costalegre, Jalisco

Building the foundation - Week Two

Our first albaniel turned out to be fast but very little thought was going into what he was doing. There were not enough support columns (castillos) for our spans and bathrooms were not planned. We added 7 new columns - 5 down the middle and two on either side of the large front room.

The bottom foto is of the reinforced 'header' (dala) that goes above the block, the top of which will be the floor level. I rented the wood for forms but will buy some next time as we'll use them multiple times.

Adding the extra castillos

The dala - header

Building a house in Pinal Villa, Costalegre, Jalisco

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