Up and down

December 10, 2008

Up with the walls, and today (hopefully) down with the excavation of the septic chamber. Work keeps going on, six days a week, and the lower part of the place is taking shape. At this point the block for the foundation, cistern, and bodega level is all laid, and some of the upper cadenas are poured, while others have the steel in place but will be poured with the slab.

The backhoe was planned to be digging the fosa septica today but when I went over at 9:00 neither Lencho nor the machine was around. He needs 15,000 pesos from me today so I expect he will find or call me before too long.

The crew yesterday and today are putting a layer of stucco made of cement and water only to the outside layer of the foundation walls for waterproofing. The same treatment will be used on the walls of the cistern to hold water in. Another worker, low man on the crew, had the task of shoveling dirt from the bodega chamber over the wall to the SE chamber of the foundation structure. Also, they have dug out to the water pipe in the street, which I was pleased to see is a nice 4-inch PVC pipe which hopefully will have plenty of capacity.

Business-wise, we got the quote yesterday for the extra work needed for the modified plan. The labor and materials worked out to 55,000 Pesos for a Lencho total of about 220,000 Pesos for completion of the concrete construction of the first floor and ceiling. That works out to about $16,500 USD. When I added in some guestimates for plumbing, electrical, windows, doors, utilities, and Derek's services, the total worked out to 29,990.60 which leaves almost $10 worth of headroom under my construction budget of $30K. It might well work out that I will spend less than that this year, leaving out the windows, doors, plumbing fixtures, and electrical hardware so as to be able to leave the place unsecured this year without much possibility of theft.
Then I could send Derek a healthy sum in the early fall and have the place sort-of ready for occupancy/finish construction next winter. There would still be tile, appliances, fixtures, and lts of other stuff to do but we could live/camp there while that was underway. If I have a good year for work, maybe we could even get construction of the two upper levels going before we get here.

While all the real work has been going on we have managed to have a vacation, too. Afternoon at the beach started a bit late yesterday when we picked up Dan about 4 pm and went to Carizalillo, then walked up from there to Tugas restaurant at Villas Carizalillo for beers and apetizers during sunset and beyond. It is one of the nicer places in town, with beer, for example, double the going rate, 30 pesos (over $2US, almost $3CAD)!

Dan got me over to Brad's Split Coconut (again in Rinconada this year) for horseshoes with the old gringos last Thursday and wants to go again tomorrow. Friday he's got us (not Liz) going to Manialtepec lagoon for fishing, birdwatching, and a surf lesson (lunch, too, I hope). We went to the market yesterday and hauled back about 40 pounds of fresh fruit and veggies for 120 pesos ($10 US), and to Super-Che this mornign to hit the ATM and resupply the staples like bread, pepsi, meat, wine, and cereal. I learned again that salchicha is not sliced lunch sausage when she filled my order with a bunch of hot dogs. I'll work through those with Sophie's help.

She's doing OK, by the way, in a old-dog sort of way. She had us up for a trip out again last night, and is enjoying the feeling of the tablecloth or large plant leaves across her now-shorn fur, much like she used to like Betty's skirts flowing over her back. The haircut reveals her many warts and few fat lumps, two of which are getting pretty big, but they don't seem to bother her much. She's having good golden dog-years.

We are staying here through December 28 and then again from Jan 4 to 15, when we have to be out and Liz wants us on the road home. New year's week we are probably staying four nights on the way to or in Oaxaca, and three in a Puerto Angel hotel, all with Dan, and Sophie, either above board or not.

3 PM update.

The machine (a similar, but different one from before, with a different operator) and Lencho were at the site later in the morning, and Liz and I went there about noon to look things over and deliver another 15,000 pesos. The fosa septica hole was growing as the backhoe noisily scraped over buried rocks to make the roughtly 2.5 meter-sided cube of a hole. More footings, columns, blocks, and cadenas (beams) will be going onto and above that to make the septic tank, the parking slab it is part of, and to hold up the eventual terrace above, off of the 1st floor.

As we were watching, one of the workers had the job again of shoveling dirt over the wall from what will be the bodega room into the foundation chamber under the 1st floor bedroom. It seems such a waste, having this big room, just filled with dirt. Surely it can be used for something. I got to asking Lencho what it would cost to reinforce the slab over that room, and have the extra space for something...more storage? Shop? Home theater (it will be windowless and low-ceilinged)? We hemmed and hawed, discussed, consulted Derek, and I eventually decided 5000 pesos ($400 US) was well gambled that the extra room would be worth having someday. So the foundation level has officially become more like the basement that happens to have a cistern in it. For now that room won't have finished walls or a floor slab, but will have a doorway, which will be needed to make the forms for the ceiling slab and to remove said forms after the pour. Plans change. The guys that have been shoveling dirt over the wall will have to cut a doorway and start shoveling that dirt, and more, back out. I'm told they won't mind (and judging from the two forward, one or two back progress of the local road projects, they won't even find it odd).

Derek and I stopped at the local hardware the other day to look at the better-than-pvc plastic alternative to copper supply pipes. Having yet to get a plumber lined up, and needing one, we asked the seller if he knew any plumbers who knew the technology and were looking for work. The next day a fellow showed up at the gate here, and we explained the project. Now we have a plumber, and electrician too. His bid was lower than we expected, but we'll see in the end. There should be some savings vs. the copper pipe, and I think the plastic is now better, certainly for corrosion resistance. The drains were going to be plastic anyway.

We're not off to the beach today as we've asked Derek & Christine & kids for dinner, some chicken / tofu curry Liz will whip up shortly, after a pool swim. There is much drama to the north, between US politics, the global economics, Canadian politics (Harper suspending parliament, Ignatief suddenly the new liberal leader), and family (as always), but at times like these it's not the worst thing to be away from it all, wondering if the tides or waves will be right for whatever fun one has planned today.