Week 34 ending Feb 18,20

I just counted up the weeks since we signed the contract to start the house not since breaking ground so we are now at week 34 and the X Spot photo does not show much but here it is:

The theme this weeks is ditches, ditches for drainage at the perimeter of the land had to be dug deeper to drain the lots; 

ditches for septic system, hot and cold water, and gas;

 ditches coming into the property for city water, electricity and phone lines. 

Inside they are finishing the cleaning of the beams and first coat of ceiling paint, the kitchen area is done.

 Elsewhere inside the house the clay tiles have been laid in the main and guest halls, the back porch and started in the garage.

Upstairs the fireplace construction was interesting earlier this week, he used strings as guides to form the flue for the chimney and to get the curve for the face right.

They finished this on Monday photos next week, for now here is the right front parting shot with the electricians pickup  

more to come.

Seems we have two weeks to post this week Feb 5 and 12 so here goes...

Starting with X spot a week ago on the 4th

A nice addition Marcelo came up with is our new wood shed and generator bodega in the center.

From the right rear corner of lot we see the roof is almost done.

And around the corner seen from left rear of lot are the new bodegas for the hot water heater/gas tanks and one for the water system pressure pump.

Back around front the entrance portico was started.

That's it for last week now for todays photos: Here is the X spot photo..

 If you looked close you could have seen the dusting of snow on Imbabura..

We are disapointed that we have passed the contracted completion date this week but the roof is almost done with exception for a small area around the entry and the portico is shaping up nicely.

The circut breaker panel is now in and wiring is about 40% completed.

In the living room about half the beams have been scraped and sanded and sealed and the ceiling painted in between them.

This is also done in the main hallway and the white paint really brightens up the area.

The Master bedroom fireplace is done!!

and the upstairs fireplace has been started.

when you turn around in the upstairs room there is a wall closing off the stairway and this wall has some nice curves on the top.

And much much more to come. See ya next week!



Week 30 January 28, 2012

Well, here we are the end of January already and at least 5 weeks to go (fingers crossed)

We start with the "X" spot photo such as it is since that spot has been removed by the landscaping operation.

And here is a shot from the right front

If we continue moving left we see that the last of the exterior walls have been skim coated up stairs in a shot from the back left corner of property.

The roof tiling has progressed the circle of waiting tiles is shrinking

This week the dramatic changes are:

Future kitchen island starts to take shape

and then hearths for fireplaces in office and master bedroom have been laid

here is the office hearth with heat exchanger waiting to be installed.

and here is the raised hearth fireplace for the master bedroom

The Master bath is where most of the drama happened this week with creation of shower and sauna walls

Here is Ane checking out the sauna (she can hardly wait on this cool rainy morning)

And most exciting of all we have the first coat of paint applied in the guest bedroom after the beams were hand scraped and steelwooled so they can be varnished.

Five weeks sounds like along time but after this week I am sure we will not notice it as our check list of items that need our attention continues to grow.

See ya next time:)



Week 29, January 21, 2012

OK here we go again.

This week the rainy season hit with a vengeance, we had heavy rains the last three nights. Not much rain during the day just a few scattered showers in the late afternoon. 

Here is as close as I could get to the X spot this week due to the mud.

Ane enters thru the Garage over newly installed cement floors. We got 90 % of the cement slab floors poured in two days this week.

Here from the far corner of dining room we see coated interior walls, concrete slab (we now have to wait 28 days for them to cure before the hardwood floor installer will start) also note the electrical and plumbing stubs for the kitchen island.

view from opposite corner in great room.

Here in the last area poured friday afternoon we have evidence of a fairly large dog visiting that evening.

Inside all the walls have been skim coated with cement and adobe mixture, while outside just a small area on the second floor and the outside of the circular entryway are left to do. The front entrance will have a small porch to shelter visitors waiting at the door probably will be added when the rest of the roof is finished with tile installation.

and from the front.

Meanwhile across the way our neighbors Julio and Paula's house is taking shape.

More to come.

Week 28 January 15, 2012

Well we have had quite a time with internet access here and I have not been able to upload for about 3 weeks so here goes with a current batch of photos.

First we have a couple of photos of the New Year Eve party we gave to the construction crews with our neighbor Julio who is building across from us in Santa Maria.

Here is Carlos our construction site foreman

Here is the X spot photo for Dec 30, 2011 or week 26

Now we move to wek 27 and show the roof tiles stacked creatively while they await installation

Our second floor room's floor is now ready for tiles

The floor on the 2nd floor veranda is also pored with drains in place and ready for tiling too

Roof tiles going on the first row is cemented in and then the tiles are laid on the wooden cradles.

Close up of how they build the roof.

Now we go to the photos taken this morning at end of week 28:

First though we have to show our morning greeters at the gate.

Here we now have a good solid base for the new street going into the development

X spot was a little hill which has been graded away in the preparation for landscaping here is my best estimate for the shot for this week.

From the same spot looking to my right down the property line we see how they are rerouting the irrigation/drainage ditch- they will soon pout large rock at bottom and cover it over. I think the outer property wall for the development will be built about on top of this line.

The ditch continues from the corner out toward the font of the development.

Here the walls are being skim coated in preparation for the white paint.

Here is a shot of the roof and flashing coming around the second floor Veranda.

Detail of roof edge next to upper veranda with veranda drain over the edge flashing.

Well thats about it for this week thanks for visiting.