Casa 1.22.14

Posted on January 23, 2014July 21, 2017 by patrice

More progress on the house

: This picture shows some of the detail that goes into doing a roof here. Over the cement pad on the roof is multiple layers of sealing. there is a black thick paint type layer and then what they call “Chova” is that black mat material you see. The tiles are laid and the facing areas have cement that you can see is red in this picture. Notice a nice detail here, in every house we have seen they leave that cement and don’t paint it. Ours, as you can see is painted to match the tiles.

: Floor tile arrived!!! In the lower center you can see what they will look like in the house and in the back you can see the center portions stacked up

: A closer look at Patrice’s Tiara, as it was named by a friend, and is catching on by everyone, including Patrice. It frames the outdoor kitchen patio.

: It is mid-week and noticeable progress. They are getting ready to lay tile on this part of the house and you can see on the right side they are making great progress laying the tile.

: New features in Patrice’s office. On the right you can see the new ornacina’s that are in the curved area of the wall. Over on the left you can see a new opening above the closet. Upper middle is the two openings for storage above the barreled hallway that leads to my office.

: This picture shows some of the detail that is going into the roof. You can see the black painted sealant and the Chova that they put over it. Every seam in the Chova is heated by a torch to melt the seams together. Another interesting detail that we haven’t seen done before, is the sealing going up all around the Sky Lights. Usually that is only sealed near the bottom. We shouldn’t have any issues with our roof…for generations

Casa 1.18.14

Posted on January 19, 2014July 21, 2017 by patrice

: After a week off for the Holidays….Their baaaaccckkkk!!!!!

: The Dome over the tower is being finished now.

: This is what the dome over the breakfast room looks like from the inside. It is hard to see in the picture, but there are electrical boxes all the way around that lip, so there will indirect lighting all around the Dome.

: Sky Lights are being finished with the covers on them. Notice the exposed beam in the middle of the light

: That orange square with the line to it is where the light switch will go.

: Looking out of a kitchen window you can see they have the entrance to the Bodega finished.

: View from the street. They are finishing the dome up at the end of the day.

: What a difference a week makes! You take a few days off and go to the Coast and when you come back – my have they been doing good things. Roof is sealed and tiles are being put on. The tower and dome are getting some nice details and you can see some of the external features coming to life too.

: Closer look at the start of the roof tiles on the Master bedroom

: My office / guest bedroom, nice exposed beams.

: Another look inside my office at some of the beams

: There are all the roof tiles stacked by the Bodega

: Nice details on the roof near the outdoor kitchen too – we didn’t know it was going to have those.

Casa 12.31.2013

Posted on December 31, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: As the roof continues…There is the wheelbarrow runner; the spreader; and the smoother.

: Now you can see the forms for some of the skylights

: Electrical wiring coming down from the roof. Yes it is under the cement, so no change orders now.

: A view from the roof. On the right you can see the covered outdoor kitchen on the peak you can see a form for a skylight.

: Another view from the roof. You can see the forms for the skylights with the bamboo showing. In the back you can see they are starting on the dome over the breakfast room

: It is Saturday and yup they are working. That mound of dirt was just delivered you see on the left.

: The Dome over the round breakfast room is going up. But what do the bags of cement have to do with it?

: Roof sealed and forms for skylights are now off too.

: Now that is a cement roof alright. Must be something like 3+ inches thick. This is with a very thick sealing coat on the cement.

: Skylight now showing in the Master just at the entrance to the closet. You can see that the slats are gone between a couple of the ceiling beams

: From where the stove will be in the kitchen. You can see the kitchen Skylights in upper left and upper right. Indoor patio is in the center of the picture.

: Now Palm branches over the cement bags hmmmm.

: Say what? Dirt over the Palm branches? Curious minds are wondering about the process of building the dome. It looks more like a beaver house.

: Finally figuring out what is going on with the Dome roof over the breakfast room… All the palm branches and other stuff was just filling the void below the real dome.They spent awhile today smoothing the surface and now you can see the re-bar is in place for the real roof over the Dome.

: This is the indoor patio and they have just finished making the edges for the pyramid ceiling. You can see the square hole on the tower in this picture where the round window made of wine bottles from the last Minga will go.

: Look closely and you can see the electrical connections are being mounted near where the skylight will go.

: A puzzle here – but I am sure when we figure it out it will make sense. The downside of not speaking good enough Spanish is… it makes it hard to ask questions when you don’t know enough words…But so far when we see the answers it all makes sense. Now with that introduction…The question here is, why are they building up like a mini wall higher than the roof of the patio? that is about 6 rows of bricks higher than the patio roof. Curious minds want to know; well forget curios minds, the owners want to know. Nice exposed beam in the corner eh, (that was for our Canadian friends).

: This is some brickwork on the edge of our bodega.

: A view from the back. To the left is the doors into the house; in the center is the kitchen; and to the right you can see the round breakfast room with the Dome roof.

: The Dome is complete!!! It is a little after 6 pm and that is our crew playing soccer now that they have finished the work day. Cool Dome eh.

: The week is over and details are appearing. This is the indoor patio and the mount for the glass pyramid is coming together.

: Remember the wooden slats? They are becoming history. The black plastic is next to come off. Notice how much of those hardwood beams will show? This is Patrice’s officina. See this is also educational as you now have a new Spanish word you have learned, well those that picked on it have learned it, and for those that missed it…keep studying.

: The Dome! That is the roof over the breakfast room.See that small point sticking up in the middle on top? that goes all the way through to the bottom and was used to shape the surface.

: A view from the roof! You can see some of the skylights in various stages of completion.

: That roof to the right of the picture is the front porch and as you can tell will have glass over that open part.

: Again…The Dome!

: This is the opening above the indoor patio. They made a place to collect the water runoff and that hole you see on the right by the opening is where the runoff will go.

Minga – Husay Cumbay 12.20.13

Posted on December 20, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

A great day for a Minga.

Our Invitation to the Minga Huasy Cumbay!!!

When: December 20, 2013 ~ 9:30am

Where: San Miguel Lot #12, Cotacachi, Ecuador

What: If you thought the Mudapalooza (Minga ~ Alpa Raymi) was the event of the year…You haven’t seen this year’s gala event, , the Huasy Cumbay!!! It is the traditional way to test the roof of a new house. What is going to happen is, there will be swings attached to the roof on the inside of the house with a fire under the swing. If it is a strong roof you won’t get burned by the fire as you swing over it.

There will be some music, dancing, wine, pizza, and a lot of laughs; so come on down!! Rumor has it, on good authority though, is that the wine bottles will be used to make one of the windows in this new house. You can be part of history once more, how is that possible you might be thinking. Well, glad you asked…You will be able to say that you drank the wine out of the bottles that made the window. It is something you can tell the grandkids about, now how many people can say that. The answer is only those that attend can, so see this is a very exclusive club you will be in.

But wait there is more… If you have any interesting or unusual colored bottles you want to donate…Please bring them with you.

RSVP

: swings are ready

: working the line 🙂

: You can tell some were so amazed at how good this brigade worked they just had to take pictures of it to prove it.

: Dang as soon as you stop the buckets and wait for more to finish mixing…dancing breaks out – can you believe it!

: The last Minga, you may recall we saw Hobbit feet, well here are the hobbit hands to go with.

: here come the buckets again…

: Moving with such machine like precision.

: Another pause in the buckets

: Never give up, stay determined!!

: And the beat goes on…

: and on…

: Oh yuck! what a dirty hand —

: Careful children, behave with those dirty hands

: This guy gets to toss each bucket all the way to the top of the roof.

: Whew, finally a break for some pizza, well ok, wine and beer too.

: Kerry trying to prove to everyone that you can open a bottle of wine by banging it in his shoe on a post…luckily, I had a corkscrew or we would have been there all afternoon. Kerry kept saying…But is is moving. Yeah right it moved really good once I put my corkscrew in it

: Oh no, the Architect and Maestro are really arsonists!!! They are lighting a fire in my house – could there work have really been that bad that they have to burn the house down?

: just about ready to let go

: tradition – swing over the fire

: The Maestro, Roberto on the left and Romero, the Architect on the right swing over the fire.

: Oh no the Electrician on the left is swinging over the fire too. Wait, Kerry, on the right is swinging too. Kerry is the guy designing the kitchen, bathrooms, and closets.

: Julia hasn’t had this much fun since she was a kid

: No! don’t make me stop – I won’t do it – this is way to much fun

: Dad, can we put a swing over a fire in our house? This is so cool!!!

: Am I really doing this?

Casa – 12.19.13

Posted on December 19, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: Ahhh getting ready for the next layer, the bamboo sheets that they have been hand wiring

: The roof is being put on – just in time for the roof party, Minga Huasy Cumbay, on Friday! There will be 6 layers on the roof by the time it is completed that plastic is really the first layer

: This is the great room area and the area where the swing will be set up Friday. You can see that the first thing that is done is put up these wood slats before they lay the plastic down.

: This is from inside my office you can see the wood and the plastic over it. Look a little closer and you can see that the round beams will be exposed on the ceiling.

: Just happened to look out at the house this morning and caught them putting one of the bamboo latices up on the roof of our house. If you didn’t realize how big the sheets are – this should give you a sense of the size.

: Swings are all ready for the Minga Huasy Cumbay in the morning – It should be a swinging time. We will put pictures of it up in a separate album after the party.

Casa – 12.14.13

Posted on December 14, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: Roof beams all up and now preparing to put the roof on the house

: From the street the porch roof is covering some of the roof lines but you can see most of them.

: This is looking from the front door and that hole you see up high in the middle of the picture is where a round window will be. It is going to be made of wine bottles. Next week when we have the Huasy Cumbay, or roof party, where we get to swing over a fire in the house to prove the roof is strong, we will use the bottles from that event for the window.

: The purpose of this picture is to explain the wire. Many have asked what that is for and we have the answers, naturally. If they just used the nail, the bamboo could split and not hold. So what they do is take the wire and wrap it around each nail head and go to the next nail, then they pound the nail in the rest of the way. This way if is does split it will be held firmly in place.

: More of the roof line and the curved inside wall (we will have a fireplace in the corner on the left.

: This is taken from where the stove will set in the kitchen. You can see the ceiling work over the beam from the kitchen and to the round wall where the fireplace will be. That niche you see to the right is where “Mr Bojangles” will be all lit up, for those that have already seen him. For those that haven’t, you will have to wait till he moves in. Oh, Mr Butts will be there over the fireplace.