All of Vincent's crew (Bruce, Manuel, Eric and Felix, plus Vincent's son, Sam), showed up on Monday, and have not had rain days, so progress is going full bore. All of the materials were not here, but they were able to work on the West Wall on Monday. Materials arrived on Tuesday for the South Wall. Ooops...we are missing some fasteners and screws...to be delivered Wednesday, hopefully....still to be delivered...
A problem encountered with The South Wall and Parapet - it is out of plumb by 3 inches. Some of the arches are twisted. Thought processes are working on this problem....and this is resolved. Stretching and straightening.
We had to make a new home for our tadpoles and mosquito larvae. We created a little pool nearby, and bailed out the pool area. We also moved 3 frogs and a toad.
An electrical occurrence momentarily stopped work Monday. The carpenters use a lot of electricity for their tools and air compressor, and we were supplying it. However, when they plugged in the microwave at lunchtime, and turned it on, that fried our electrical box. Bill got the generator out and the carpenters had lunch and went back to work. The electrician was called and put us back online by lunchtime Tuesday (with no microwave problems). The power outage effected our living quarters with only a glitch in the power and 45 minutes without power while the electrician fixed the problem.
It did rain Monday night which caused a somewhat muddy condition Tuesday. And the pool area has some water in it again, but not much. We continue to add water to their (tadpoles') swimming pool.
Pictures to come.....
06 June 2012
The Patio is Done! The Patio is Done!!
Last week, Mario and his co-worker, came and finished creating our patio. They were helped a lot by the delivery of a truckload of cement.
The slab looks to be 3 shades of gray. Actually, the patio is a straight line starting at the second metal arch. The lighter curved moon is the protrusion of sunlight onto our floor INSIDE the house. And the shade behind that is where the 'roof' will help us keep cool.
30 May 2012
Preparation for South Patio
The horizontal insulation is 3 inches thick. The vertical insulation along the footer is 2 inches thick. They will help keep the heat sync (under the house) from escaping as it will have to travel another 9 feet (from the interior of the house) to uninsulated dirt.
Every 2 feet along the front of the house slab, there is a drilled hole where the rebar has been inserted. Since the rebar is 1 foot apart, every other piece of rebar is 'floating'.
28 May 2012
Tunnel nearer completion
The brick wall now has the rebar behind it and is ready for the shotcrete.
The tunnel second layer of rebar has been quality checked and the third layer of rebar is being applied.
Quality Control is still ongoing on the rest of the house structure.
Bill and I visited the 'pool' area, and found tadpoles as well as mosquito larvae. So we shall leave them be and watch that they get enough rainfall.
We also visited the dirt wall behind the garage. It used to be 14 feet high but because the back-filling started awhile back, it is more like 10 feet high. In that wall, some bees have decided to build their tunnel nests.
Quality Control is still ongoing on the rest of the house structure.
Bill and I visited the 'pool' area, and found tadpoles as well as mosquito larvae. So we shall leave them be and watch that they get enough rainfall.
We also visited the dirt wall behind the garage. It used to be 14 feet high but because the back-filling started awhile back, it is more like 10 feet high. In that wall, some bees have decided to build their tunnel nests.
25 May 2012
Another Endwall Complete
Bill, Keith and Carol have been working on the end wall of the tunnel. The dead-end wall.
They have finished laying the
bricks, so the interior is done. The outside needs rebar fastened to it
so it is ready for shotcrete.
The rains have stopped for awhile and we have started the quality control checks on the two layers of rebar.
We had an 'inspection' visit from the makers of the steel kit and plans for the house and garage. We may be making some changes because of some of their comments.
We also had an overnight visitor who enjoyed what it thought was the safety of the house's mesh roof.
The rains have stopped for awhile and we have started the quality control checks on the two layers of rebar.
We had an 'inspection' visit from the makers of the steel kit and plans for the house and garage. We may be making some changes because of some of their comments.
We also had an overnight visitor who enjoyed what it thought was the safety of the house's mesh roof.
12 May 2012
Running (Into) A Brick Wall AND YET We Can Still See Light at the End of the Tunnel
We are running INTO brick walls.
Our patio slab did not get poured as yet as that contractor had 'calamities' to deal with.
The carpenters are busy on another job, so we wait for our West and South exterior walls.
The weather this coming week looks like rain which may put off both of the above parts of the project.
The garage has a damp roof. Possible investigation/intervention needed.
We forgot to incorporate insulation behind the garage retaining walls, so we have some digging to do to get that done. The concrete crew have offered to dig that out with their excavator which will be a big help. The insulation is used to insulate the soil for our PAHS (Passive Annual Heat Storage) which IS the soil. It will remain within a narrow range of comfortable temperature to help keep the house within that range.
During the last rain, Bill was looking at the rainwater that accumulates in the 'pool' area. He was noticing the surface of the water moving as from drops of rain hitting it. Friday, it wasn't raining and the effect was still happening. He realized that we had a reservoir teeming with mosquito larvae. He and I bailed it out, and got the toad/frogs out too. I went back today and saved a toad/frog from death. They are hard to catch with hands, but with our cut off plastic bottle used as a bailer, it was easy. I now have a daily chore of checking out the 'pool' area for toads/frogs and letting them free, and bailing as needed.
But looking on the bright side, today's progress is the constructing of the brick wall 'at the end of the tunnel'.
There will probably be one more brick wall in the interior of the house as an accent in the living room.
Our patio slab did not get poured as yet as that contractor had 'calamities' to deal with.
The carpenters are busy on another job, so we wait for our West and South exterior walls.
The weather this coming week looks like rain which may put off both of the above parts of the project.
The garage has a damp roof. Possible investigation/intervention needed.
We forgot to incorporate insulation behind the garage retaining walls, so we have some digging to do to get that done. The concrete crew have offered to dig that out with their excavator which will be a big help. The insulation is used to insulate the soil for our PAHS (Passive Annual Heat Storage) which IS the soil. It will remain within a narrow range of comfortable temperature to help keep the house within that range.
During the last rain, Bill was looking at the rainwater that accumulates in the 'pool' area. He was noticing the surface of the water moving as from drops of rain hitting it. Friday, it wasn't raining and the effect was still happening. He realized that we had a reservoir teeming with mosquito larvae. He and I bailed it out, and got the toad/frogs out too. I went back today and saved a toad/frog from death. They are hard to catch with hands, but with our cut off plastic bottle used as a bailer, it was easy. I now have a daily chore of checking out the 'pool' area for toads/frogs and letting them free, and bailing as needed.
But looking on the bright side, today's progress is the constructing of the brick wall 'at the end of the tunnel'.
There will probably be one more brick wall in the interior of the house as an accent in the living room.
10 May 2012
It IS Progress - That Tedious Rebar Tying
Mario's crew is still working on the second layer of rebar. It is a big chore. Hector has joined them. And Carol and Bill have helped a lot, too. The Mayflies have been a hindrance.
Bill, with some help from Justin and Stephen, has been chipping away at the dirt next to the tunnel.
The plumbers have been here to extend the drain pipe and install the two-way cleanout. This is in preparation of tomorrow's concrete pour - the South patio. It will be in place to support the South wall and South parapet forms when the framer's can make it back, hopefully the week of May 21st.
We had some insulation delivered which will go under the South patio, to keep our PAHS dirt within a warmer range. We are also having mortar mix delivered. Carol has been preparing our used bricks from the old farm house which we demolished last summer. Bill and Keith and Carol plan to work on Saturday to brick up the wall at the end of the tunnel.
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| An hour and a half's collection of mayflies |
Bill, with some help from Justin and Stephen, has been chipping away at the dirt next to the tunnel.
The plumbers have been here to extend the drain pipe and install the two-way cleanout. This is in preparation of tomorrow's concrete pour - the South patio. It will be in place to support the South wall and South parapet forms when the framer's can make it back, hopefully the week of May 21st.
We had some insulation delivered which will go under the South patio, to keep our PAHS dirt within a warmer range. We are also having mortar mix delivered. Carol has been preparing our used bricks from the old farm house which we demolished last summer. Bill and Keith and Carol plan to work on Saturday to brick up the wall at the end of the tunnel.
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| From the SE corner looking NW |
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| From the SW corner looking ENE or thereabouts |
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| The West Annex |
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| The North West Corner |
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