A day without construction

Living in a construction zone is getting a bit old, especially with the rain and all the muck.  The dark skies before the rain came down in buckets.

 So.. we decided to go to Villa Purification for lunch.  It's about an hours drive east.  It was nice to get away for a bit.

On the way a couple of men getting gasoline with the help of their horses.  You can tell the men were cold as they had their arms inside their shirts.










A typical back country bridge, only cement, no railings and one lane.









Not sure what these are, will have to ask some local people.  Just found them interesting.

Update--floors, electric and walls

 The past several days we have had rain so the construction has come to a stand still.  But, here are some updates.

One of the windows that will be placed along side the stairs.  Eventually it will have glass and a screen in the center.



The pouring of the floor is all done by hand.


Leveling and smoothing is done with a metal bar.















The floor is approximately 4 inches thick.








The center support beam has been poured and will have to set for several days.





The electric and plumbing is cut into the brick and then will be plastered over. 







Again nothing fancy with the ladder. 
 















Notice the balancing of the boards on the scaffolding.

 The back of the house with the ventaler blocks.  No exhaust fans.

 The bodega was started but for some reason not finished yet. 




The front wall got a little taller than planed because we wanted to match the existing wall on the street side.  The wall still needs the top dala and final coat of stucco.

Things of Interest and the Banking delima

 Found this little (BIG) moth? on the wall.  Don't grow them this big in Washington.

 While there were digging the foundations this pot turned up.  Raul thinks it is very old.













Tom wanted to set up a bank account in Mexico for the ease of paying the utility bill and taxes.
 
In March we had one set up and it was closed unexpectedly while we were on our way home.  Not much we could do at that point.  After several phone calls we were given the reason that the ID's we gave were not sufficient in Mexico City.  We were told by the local bank not to worry that they had our money in a check for when we came back.

True to their word the check was waiting, but we still wanted to open an account.  We had a copy of the electric bill to set up the Mufa and our fedicosimo showing we owned property.  This was NOT sufficient, only a paid electric bill would do!  So no bank account.  Now we have the electric bill, but we read there were new rules on opening an bank account, so we shall see. 

Tom went to Intercam and had a check issued to him.  Went to the bank and NO money at the bank!  It had been a holiday the day before and that day was also pay day for the locals that get paid every other week.  He had to wait for a delivery of money in the afternoon.  As he was waiting in line the armored truck came with the cash necessary to give all the people that had been waiting all day.  Not a common occurrence in the US for sure.  Something to think about when the banks are closed for a holiday.  No armored trucks come on those days.

Beams, anchors and frames

 This was what the casa looked like on Dec 12.  Internet is so slow I haven't been able to post.

The frame of the gates got painted.          The front gate door getting a stain.

  The delivery of the cement beams to do the bovda ceiling.

The maestro wasn't expecting the delivery, so called on family and friends to come help unload this heavy load.

 

All stacked and ready for when the ceiling gets started.      The beams have rebar

The top of the walls are being rounded.  The forms are held in place with bent rebar.

The dalas are formed with boards that are tied with wire.  When the cement has hardened they cut the wires and save them to recycle.

The dalas are supported by tree limbs where openings for doors and windows are.

The front of the house is getting fake columns.   Using a sona tube that has been cut in half and then anchored to the castello they pour cement to fill both at the same time. 

Compacting the dirt on the floor so that it's nice and even and can put rebar and cement down.

Moved to the Property

We moved to the property so we are now in the 
 middle of all the construction.














I couldn't resist and climbed to the roof of the motor home to see what our view would be like. 




This is the view looking west.

This is the view looking South.  This view will be much better from the house as the motor home is parked to the far side of the lot and the view we will have will be from the opposite side.













It is amazing how little tools the workers use.  Colored string tied to rebar is how they level everything!  The Maestro marks with a colored pencil along the string for different placements of castello or whatever else they need to mark.

 They are taking the forms off the dala.  Notice the shoes and balance of the worker.

Electric lines placed in the dala before they pour the cement by hand.





Our first load of house brick.

The first coat of plaster.










This is how they support the corner castellos before they pour the cement by hand.



















The house has been started.

Construction and Turtles

There is a turtle sanctuary two places on the beach.  I don't know when they released the turtles.  I'll have to find out who to asks so I can watch.  Since the holding tank was overturned I guess I missed it for this year.









Labels to establish when the turtles should hatch.
















They are putting in the castillos (columns) in the wall surrounding the casa.
 





The top of the dala has a protective coating so that water doesn't wick into the bricks of the wall.
 

















The first bricks laid for the wall. 

        The wall is going up FAST.



 
                 

Tom and Raul watching the proceedings.













A plumb bob to make sure things are straight.  Nothing fancy on the construction jobs here.
  























The start of the house, footings and castillos.


 The castillos are being anchored to rebar, then concrete poured to keep them in place.

 Moving right along!  

These men work very hard in the heat and sun, no slouches in this group of workers!












The gate and the door in the front wall starting to be assembled.