Casa – 12.2.13

Posted on December 5, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: from the street looking at the guest wing you can see the start of the tower over the entry/foyer

: we will have some exposed beams in the rooms

: bodega – we opted to add one for Dave’s tools, power washer and file boxes (you know old taxes etc)

: barrel ceilings – yes amazing

: come in through the front door and look to your left – powder room, laundry room and whats this a barrel ceiling to the entry of the pantry and the kitchen

: Bob shared this one with us taken from the roof of #16 we are building on 12

Casa 11.30.13

Posted on November 30, 2013April 29, 2014 by patrice

Today marks three months since the house was started. Every day we fall more in love with the house. There are new elements that we didn’t expect – barrel ceilings in the hallways … WOW hard to see in the pictures but when you come for a visit … you can see for yourself.

So many things to be thankful for – our new life here in Ecuador is wonderful!!

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Minga – Alpa Raymi (Earth Party & house blessing)

Posted on November 16, 2013April 29, 2014 by patrice

Our first invitation
Patrice and Dave would the pleasure of your presence Friday at 8:30am in San Miguel Lot #12 for the best Mud Fiesta you have every been invited to!

There will be Music, Dancing, and a host of VIP’s will make an appearance, heck some VIP’s will stay for the entire thing. So if you want to rub shoulders with some truly important VIP’s, don’t miss a minute of the excitement.

What is this Fiesta all about? Well…since you asked…Dave and Patrice will be starting the walls of their new house and want you to be a part of it. So bring your boots or be ready to be bare foot and be part of this historic occasion.

Remember this is a once in a lifetime experience, it will never happen again. There are no second chances.

Oh I almost forgot to tell you who the VIPs are, no I am not trying to tease you…Everyone that is there is a VIP…If they weren’t they wouldn’t be invited after all.

Let us know if you will be there and we will see you at the grand event

and then the follow up
Well our plans they are a changing a little
Ramiro – architect says we should start at 9am – and Martha says 8:30 is too early anyways sooo 9am it is

Now they are starting to work on the ‘mud pit’ it’s being treated as we speak – YEA!!

We have opted to bring in pizza for everyone (workers included) around 11am
And seems we might even have some vino and dancing (there will be bottled water as well)

Be prepared for what we hope will be a really fun morning – so glad you will come and share this with us

Please let us know if you are coming if you haven’t already

See you Friday

: workin the dirt

: Ramiro jumped out of his car with a huge sheet of paper – made us this sign

: and more

: stomp stomp 🙂 we had music

: stomp stomp

: Hello Martha!

: we all became hobbits

: three amigas

: Roberto our Maestro – showing us how its done

: everyone working

: Susan – wow you go girl!

: Martha’s wall – considering a plaque 🙂

: Emily & Abigail WTG!

: Eva & Cindi working hard

: family affair – Steve, Abigail & Eily

: stuffing the walls

: are we having fun yet?

: wooohooo Ramiro

: stomp, stomp

: Nancy & Eva

: dancin

: working on the walls

: Julie had to work a little but picked up a pair of fabulous boots for the occasion

: end of the day pizza – 15 of them

: working on the pit

: makin mud

: Ramiro – architect (fabulous guy!!

: Eva & Ramiro

: more of the crew

: Ramiro & Patrice ‘Muddy’ Parent

: view from the master

: bamboo is attached and then wired

: mud in the walls

: no nails everything fits together

: inside close the fireplace

: It is truly amazing how they make the tools they need here. This is a table saw and every band of bamboo you see in the pictures was cut on this table

Casa – 11.11.13

Posted on November 11, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: Just wanted to show the ladder that they made on site. I think you can see that it is two tree limbs with some slats nailed into them. They have only a basic set of tools and seem to make most things right on site. It looks very different than an American job site when you see a pickup for every guy that is working and each guy has their own set of tools. All the workers here arrive either by bicycle or all together standing up in the back of a pickup truck

: The connection in other cases is a separate pin going down through the beams into a whole cut in a wall pole. This wood is a hardwood they call Colorado. They are using Colorado because it is a hardwood that grows very straight and doesn’t split. Other construction I have seen mostly uses Eucalyptus as beams and posts. Our Architect didn’t want to use Eucalyptus because it splits easy and isn’t really straight.

: A shot of how the beams and walls are connected. Notice that wooden pins. In some cases the poles in the wall are cut down leaving the center to act as a pin going into holes cut into the log beams, as is the case with the two wall poles in this picture

: Out of Dave’s office window across the outdoor kitchen to the Master wing.

: The guest wing taken from the outdoor kitchen

: looking from the middle of the Master bedroom back at the entrance where the nicheries are.

: This is from the living room looking down the hall to the Master bedroom. That notched looking thing is one of the niches, and new word for you, bedroom nicheries.

: from the street

: Looking from one side of the indoor patio across to (from left to right), powder room, laundry room, and pantry. you can see the arches are in place for the doors. On the right and actually within the indoor patio the arch and small wall are in also

Casa -11.6.13

Posted on November 7, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: view from the front porch

: looking into Dave’s office from the outside window – check out the Niches 🙂

: North Elevation

: another shot of the guest wing

: Pantry view

: looking in from the outdoor kitchen

: South Elevation

: Oor crew plays soccer at lunch and after a day – of 10 hours work

: View of the guest wing

some serious progress – house is really moving along

Understanding our building process

Posted on November 1, 2013December 14, 2013 by patrice

The wonders of an earthen home…Ramiro Rangles is featured as well as Javier Carrera from the Seed Network in Tumbaco who has given a permaculture course right here in Cotacachi.

Ramiro Rangles is our Architect and the first Architect featured in the video. We started planning our home here in 2009 – we were going to build rammed earth. Last year we saw another method of building called ‘bajareque’ (sounds like baraque) and chose that as our method to build. It is basically bamboo and dirt the walls are 8 inches thick (or 20 cm).

YouTube link on how the process works for the kind of home we are building – its all in spanish but you will understand it.