Casa 2.22.15

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

: This is just to give a better view of what Patrice’s tiara looks like from further away in our subdivision.

: The large window in the master bedroom is starting to take shape.

: Taken from the back of the breakfast room… There is now what looks like the beginning of a hutch – interesting. You can see the wall of the indoor patio through the archway into the kitchen

: The window in the tower is now round

: Kitchen plumbing continues – if you notice all the interior plumbing is copper

: Plumbing continues – this is going into the powder room

: Looking through the indoor patio you can see what the window looks like from the outside

: Another look at our first window – sure looks great how it reflects on the wall.

: Laundry room – the stand for the sink is coming together.

: Up on the roof a look at the detail and the tiles over the front porch.

: This whole side of the house has been plastered

: Breakfast room – the little hutch in there was completed this week and it looks like those holes are for lights actually and there is one at the top.

: Outdoor kitchen area is plastered and looks like they are starting to work on the counters

: You can see some of the plastering on the walls here

: A closer look at the window – wine bottles.

: Our first window is being put in.

Casa 2.12.14

Posted on February 13, 2014July 21, 2017 by patrice

: our crew playing after work not sure where they get the energy

: Trying to show some of the details that will be showing when my office is finished. But these details will be all through the house. All of the wood you see will be exposed. The wood is called Colorado and it is a very hard wood.

: As you can see the roofing has moved from the Master bedroom all the way over to the guest wing on the left.

: The kick plates…These will be used all around the house as they are shown but will be over the floor tiles of course.

: These are the edge floor tiles the will be on the doorways and edge the outdoor kitchen

: This is the hallway leading to my office

: Just inside the front door looking up into the tower. The window in front will be were the round window made from wine bottles from the roof minga will be.

: Lots of progress with the roof and plastering too this week. (1.25)

: This is the view from the breakfast room. I took this yesterday morning. The peak is very often in clouds so you can’t see Mt Cotacachi very often. If you can see the peak it is in the morning.

: This picture shows what is left to do on the room. Just what you see on the left side. Of course they have yet to cover the domes, but I think that should be fairly soon.

: You can see the roof is complete from this angle

: My office you can see the completed storage area over the closet area and the hallway tunnel with the ornacinas.

: There is the opening to the storage area above the tunnel to my office and over the guest bath. See what looks like a hole in the wall on the left? Well that will be a branding and will show the house construction after it is finished – Keep watching to see how it develops.

: The copper plumbing is being installed now too. all the internal plumbing is copper.

: The windows have been adjusted and a angled wall put in for the stove in the kitchen.

: Just above the front door inside the tower is a new ornacina that appeared. Amazing how things magically appear in this house.

: The front door is framed in now too.

: Looks like the roof is all but done. Just some finishing details, and of course the domes need to be done.

: Plumbing being installed. The copper is for the inside of the house and the PVC is for the outside.

: Street view, nice roof eh.

: This picture is taken from the doorway of the door out to the outdoor kitchen patio and is the entrance to the guest wing. From the left is part of the door to Patrice’s office; then the hallway to my office; above is a storage access; the entrance to the guest bath; and finally the barrel hallway from the entrance of the house.

: Kitchen plumbing is being installed and the archway into the breakfast room is complete also

: Looks like the roof is all but done. Just some finishing details, and of course the domes need to be done.

: Another look at the Tiara on the bodega. It is still a work in progress but almost done.

: More details are appearing every day. If you look careful you can see some changes are going on with indoor patio too. Those red bricks in the back seem to be holding a new curved line addition to the patio.

: New ornacinas have appeared in the hallwaygoing down to my office.

: This is looking at the back side from close to the house we are renting…Look at that Patrice’s Tiara is spreading. It now includes the roof over the Bodega!

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?