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

All about water prep this time

Three water related projects that are mostly done. Only the complete impermeabilizante job of the roof is left. Much of the roof was just a cement wash over tile and then coated with impermeabilizante. Sometimes the wash lifts and sometimes foot traffic wears the coating down. Unfinished tile or cement is porous so you have to paint or seal it somehow. I've done the patching in obvious places, next to paint the whole thing.

While crawling around the gas tank (background 2nd foto) I noticed the seams rusting.  Then I noticed any little scratch had rusted.   Then I noticed on both rounded ends the paint had little bubbles with no apparent damage to cause them.  A few bubbles had broken and rusted in side.  This tank is only 3 years old.   I know it sits in sun and rain uncovered but still ....  can't they coat something as possibly dangerous as a gas tank a little better.   So there it is, sanded and painted and I'm thinking about a cover.

The final foto is of the not quite aesthetically pleasing solution to keep roof water out of my yard and into the street.   I really preferred the ceramic scuppers on that side of the house but the first one was removed because water was draining right over the front door.   This one was removed because I don't need lots of water in my yard in a heavy rain.  It all ends up in the street anyway so why not direct.   The plastic pipe off the roof is kinda funky Mexicanada but it'll do for a few years.

Cement wash lifted

Whole roof after some patching

Rusting gas tank

No more ceramic water spout into the yard

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

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

Geting ready for impermeabilizante (roof sealer)

Only studying the proceedure right now, filling low spots or the roof and cleaning. Then wait for at least 4 days of dry weather.

First rain of the season

... and my roof leaks. Same places it was leaking before we put on the Tacata layer.

Guess this means I get a power washer, wait for a dry spell and roll on impermeabilizante - probably Fester. Fester was quoted at about 1200 a cubeta. A cubeta will do about 20 meters in 2 coats. My roof is about 110 sq meters.  An unexpected cost and work