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

Green Concrete

Pretty amazing video on how this "slab" will return water to the ground rather than create runoff headed for the ocean, lakes or low lying areas that can flood.

Mexico Ecological Concrete took first place in the contest Cleantech Challenge, their products are pavement and floors can capture rainwater for harvesting.

By: Viridiana Mendoza Escamilla

MEXICO CITY (CNNExpansión) - Mexico Ecological Concrete created a system for the recovery and use of rainwater through porous pavements and floors made ​​of concrete, a project that earned her the company's first Cleantech Challenge contest.

The prize for this company were 250,000 pesos, a 100% scholarship for graduate studies at the University of the Environment (UMA), and the possibility of going to Boston to present product benefits to a group of investors where there is potential for collect up to 30 million dollars in investment.

Contest article in Spanish

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

Working on wooden houses for a change

My friend Ron who normally lives in San Miguel also has a small rental in Seattle and we somehow timed our trip north at almost the same time. His last renters didn't take the best care of the place so much needed to be done. Painting nearly the whole inside, redo the living room floor, repair kitchen floor tiles, scrape and paint funky windows, clean and caulk the bathroom, repaint the front porch and refasten all the back deck screws. It was really looking good when I left and he had another week to go.

My relatives decided to remove two large skylights rather than replace them and they would need to be tiled over. We took about 70 tiles off the back of the garage that would hopefully match the roof around the skylights ... and replaced them with new darker tiles. Too many delays and I wasn't able to see the final product. Maybe sis will send a foto or two

Ron's living room

Bedroom painted

The families house

Rainy day in August

Just realized I hadn't posted on these things now completed. The palapa is dry, no longer green and only leaks a little.  The awning (marquesina) and flower beds worked out perfectly.   No rain against the house and some greenery.  The car fits in the garage and it also works as a dry work or party space and laundry area.  Grass is still struggling to recover from construction traffic but I've fertilized it.

Palapa and marquesina

Garage and bodega