July 27th Update - remake of "The Wall"

While focusing on our casita construction, it is important that we have some other infrastructure elements we've concerns for. Along our driveway on property that is common to Callie/John and us was a raw dirt wall from when the tractor cut in our driveways. We know this poses a landslide risk, and want the mountain above our property to be stable. So we've been concerned all season to get started on this wall. During the past couple of weeks, that project has started.

In this first photo, on the left is Callie/John driveway. We're looking downhill to where we wound up placing our casita. That power pole is approximately the lot line running at an upper-ish left to lower-ish right direction across the driveway. I think I mentioned before that when we were all buying these lots, we were at the mercy of the actual mountain terrain to guide us in the exact placement of the roadway....

Anyway, work was started by Macho; a fellow our community has hired before to do roadways, and walls. He does good work and is reasonably priced. So it makes sense for us to have him work on this wall, which will integrate into the wall started by Mario and Gerardo's crew early in May. We're also moving the driveway one block LEFT; and adding a concrete gutter so that running water won't wash out the earth below. One of the wonderful things about Macho's work is the nice concrete footing he lays in before building the wall.

This section shows how he is starting the wall from a low point, and keeping the block level as he moves uphill. He'll reinforce with rebar and fill in the block hollows along the way to add strength. While it appears he 'might' integrate the power pole into the wall, in reality what he'll need to do is build behind it so the the pole is fully exposed to ICE for any repairs they might need to make. Then it will continue downhill, integrating into the existing wall structure...

Rob and Kent again head back to the states this coming Friday so there will be a gap in photos after this week. I'll try to spread out the story though in my postings to allow for more even blogs, even while they're gone.

Rob and Jim need to discuss exactly what to have Gerardo work on while he and Kent are traveling. Hopefully we'll work out that detail within the next few days. Jim is of a mind to get the bodega structure finished since that will take some days to construct a two level floor, the entry, and stairs to that entry. Will also provide a location to put the Miller Generator as it's need for welding comes to an end. Plus, that structure will be required for our Labor Day week trip this year...

Thanks for reading so far. We enjoy comments, so please don't hesitate to post them.

Ricardo y Jeeeem

ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Several parts have been posted, others to follow as this blog evolves... Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/

I am SO behind.... July 22 update

So much progress to report!!! First, early this week Alazan FINALLY got power from ICE (eee-say). Rob and Kent were traveling the prior week - and so returned to Alazan Tuesday morning; and soon thereafter power was turned on. I'll be looking forward to them taking night photos...


Gerardo worked very hard the week before last on the very tedious American beams. You'll see in this first photo what the bedroom level veranda looks like with the AB added. Didn't Gerardo do beautiful work??? When you're taking your Costa Rican vacation and spending time at Casita Torrente de Agua; from your bedroom you will be able to enjoy this beautiful work. This second photo shows the upstairs veranda American Beam. This will be seen from the living room and upper open bedroom. You can see how the overhang of the roof will protrude over all this. Now imagine old growth teak ceiling above your head... And out in the not-too-far distance over the plantations, the Pacific Ocean. I love this last photo. This shows Gerardo sort-of hanging from the upper American Beam. Gerardo is an example of a typical Tico. Look at him, then understand that he is almost the same age as me!!! That is what healthy food, good work, and mild weather looks like.

There is much more to report, but I want to leave todays BLOG just about the American Beams. In addition to being beautiful to look at, this structural element is one of the things which help the structure to be both strong, yet flexible during earthquakes. It is why central american buildings tend to be less affected by tremors.

Thanks for reading today's blog.

Ricardo y Jeeeem


ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Part 1, 2 and 3 are posted; others to come over the next several weeks. Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/

After we left from July Trip...

Hola friends!


During the trip back, Jim spent time refining information to help Rob know the sequencing and important details in constructing the center part of the structure. On the architectural software it is referred to as the third "floor". But indeed, there is no floor to it. If you think of a cupola, and then enlarge it to 5.1 meters long, and 1.85 meters wide with the top rail 5.25 meters above the upstairs floor level (eg: about 17 feet), then you've pretty much got it. The top meter of that structure will have windows all around it. now, we won't be so sexy as to have electric openers - but rather long poles that will operate the louvered windows from the floor. There will be six windows total.

The point of this large center shaft is to form a chimney to the structure. The Sun will heat that top most roof, and when the lower and upper windows are open, a natural convection should occur making a "wind" through those lower windows all the time. By opening/closing different windows, we can control this.








Gerardo made fantastic progress on this structure, as evidenced by the pictures in this blog. The photo's begin a sequence. The first is top dead center over the kitchen bumpout wall and sets the first support for the ridge pole supporting the gable end roof there. The second is the tie in to the tower which is the other support for the ridge pole. The thid is the ridge pole going in. From this, roof "beams" are mounted and above those, roofing itself.

The fourth picture are the guys mounting a valley pole parallel to a hip roof ridge pole. If you're not familiar with terms, I think your understanding will improve over future posts. Grill me then and I'll point out how this framework is the foundation for that. This picture is perfect in seeing the vision of those upper windows. That "box" above the guys heads is the north wall of the upper box, and will contain a single window. The others will be arrayed around that. The small upper roof will be on TOP of that box.





The final picture is of the tower itself. It is just under the top wall pole that the one meter tall windows will be installed. On top of all this is an upper hipped roof with generous overhang so that rain won't go into those windows. As you can see from this ground up shot, it is rather high up there!!! That should also serve to catch breezes which will also pull air up into that tower. We'll see how it comes out in the end. We just might have to provision a ladder and upper seats to enjoy the view up there! Please let us know if you're interested in that. Jim will get started on the design to create that feature!








Now, please understand that a lot of that criss-cross stuff are temporary supports. It is this coming week that Gerardo will build big X's at strategic points - plus a stucture that all of you who visit will see every time - something called an American Beam. This is built high up on the outter Ocean view walls with a series of diagonal pieces forming a sort of criss-cross pattern that should be interesting. Painted black like the rest of the exposed steel, we think it'll be a cool look. Plus is one more part of making our casa more earthquake tolerant.









This little "picture" is a drawing of how American Beam's look. Hope this explains better than my poor words do.









I'll be revisiting the backstory blog soon, and will amend these recent blogs with that link. Just give me a bit of time to get to that.

Thanks very much for reading. Hopefully you've been able to see the physical progress as our little casa is built.

Best to you all!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Part 1 thru 6 are posted; others to come over the next several weeks. Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/

Design changes first and second floor

Hola friends,

Continuing the story, once we decided to create the bodega (storage space) on the new sub level, we decided to change the planned space of the first floor bodega to a third bathroom. In doing this, we then decided to alter the plan so that doorways entering the bathrooms will be directly off each first floor bedroom rather than a common door of the lavanderia (laundry) room. This change then resulted in our altering the laundry plan so that it is a large rectangular room with just three doors (one each bedroom, plus entry) and thus no need for a privacy wall for the bathroom door. So now we'll have an enclosed countertop created out of steel and covered in ceramic tile with a big sink; and the front loading washer and dryer underneath. This way it will look more like a welcoming entryway and not like a laundry.

We then layed out each bathroom a bit differently so that each gets a nice window over the sink, and a nice vent window over the shower or a nice long window in the room. The entry doors will be mounted on the bedroom side, and will be a slide-by surface door with a translucent material. We'll put a transom on top to keep air going, even when door is closed. We'll do the same over the bedroom entry doors as well.

We decided the bed wall will be different than originally planned, making the large glass sliding door to the veranda more accessible, and the room more visually appealing. We are excited at the prospect. We think guests (whether family, or paying guests) will really enjoy these rooms. The veranda's will be separated with an obscuring screen so that guests have visual privacy when sitting on the veranda. We'll insulate the thick wall dividing the bedrooms so that guests have even more privacy.

Upstairs we decided that the roof extension covering the kitchen bumpout will have a gable end rather than a hipped end consistent with the rest of the roof, so that windows will be OVER the kitchen cabinets providing opportunity for more light and airflow. While the back wall of the bumpout will be largely obscured, that light both above, and from the side will make it an inviting space.

We also decided to significantly enlarge the two sliding glass doors to the veranda, which should make the connection with both forest and ocean more significant. In our original plan, we had intended on a short wall covering the side of what will be a clothes cabinet (wood). We decided to eliminate that wall, so that one would see the side of the wood cabinet instead. Finally, since the second floor bathroom looks onto a quiet, private part of the forest; we'll have a floor to top window which will position right behind the lav sink. Yes, that does mean that traveling monkeys might see one's hind-end in the morning - but that is the price of connection to the forest.

I so wish I had samples of the tiles we picked out. I will ask Roderick to forward samples so I can post here. The combination will be warm, natural, elegant, casual. Go figure that one!!!! While our inside space will be simple - we think we're going to love it - and hope guests do as well...

So, this sums up the changes we made as a result of our trip. Simple alterations, but easy to make now, and we think the result will be worth it. Until the next post....


Ricardo y Jeeeem

ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Part 1, 2 and 3 are posted; others to come over the next several weeks. Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/

July 12th posting....

More on our July trip. The last two posts showed the view from second floor, and the "wildlife" that we saw this trip. And then showed some samples from our shopping trip.

This blog is to show some of the actual contstruction from the trip pics. When we got to the job site we thought the second floor walls would be in place. In fact, they generally weren't, although there were a couple of upright posts. However, when the first ones went in, they were in the wrong spot anyway, so we made some adjustments before work continued. It was really this part that was so very valuable. Whether our project manager Rob had intentionally planned it (I think he did) the timing was in fact perfect.

With all the wall uprights going in correctly we needed to do two specific things before we could begin the roof project. First, we needed the 1 meter bump out on the second floor for the kitchen. While I was disappointed that Gerardo had not built that into the floor structure - we got around that and so even though welded on - Gerardo put in good supports to ensure that is a sturdy floor. We also needed to extend the upper veranda space to create an upper landing spot for the stair going up.

To properly do the upper veranda space, I needed to calculate in detail the stairway. And this was something I really needed to do while actually there since I needed to know the EXACT distance from ground entry level to veranda level. I settled on a 15 step stair (14 stair pieces plus the veranda level or 15 risers. This meant we needed to span 420cm for fourteen 30cm steps (they will actually be 32cm but overlap by 2cm). And a rise of 17.1cm for each step (15 risers total). Knowing these figures, I was able to know exactly how far around the corner the upper extension had to run. The other "on site" change made is that we extended the extended piece a total of 110cm vs the originally planned 100cm. All of this was critical knowledge before we could work our the detail of the upper tower that will be in a future blog. This picture is of that extension in place.

The other set of changes we made were in details of both bodega and some first floor details. First the bodega level (basement, or the 'zero floor'). In prior posts I had mentioned that we had an opportunity of potential space below the first floor. Once there and checking that out, the estimate of 5 by 9.5 meter floor space is false. In fact, we have 2.5m X 9.5m space with a bit of opportunity for a 1.5 x 1.5 meter entry pad under cover, plus a 2m X 5m space one step higher than the bigger pad. If you view the photo above, the entry would be right below the extension - but of course downhill.

So using this for anything other than storage made no sense. Our plan is to create a fully enclosed 2 x 5 room (the step up) to be our new secure and dry bodega; and to use the back part of the 2.5 x 9.5 space as an open (think jail cell) bodega to hold the mechanicals (generator, compressors, gas tanks, water filters) which are a theft risk. the front 7m X 2.5m space will just be secured (more jail cell) place for other storage of larger objects such as furniture items, tools, etc. Potentially we could use it for a sitting deck, but neither of us thinks anyone will really want that. There is plenty of space higher up.

So, as we left on Friday, July 4th to return to San Jose for our flight back to the states on July 5th, this photo is what we saw. Generally good progress, many things left to do. I think the casa progress in the week following this post will surprise you.

I'll describe the other alterations to plan in my next post.

Ricardo y Jeeeem

ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Part 1, 2 and 3 are posted; others to come over the next several weeks. Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/

Our Late June Trip....

Hola Friends, we're home to Wisconsin again...

We were back home in Costa Rica from June 29th through July 5th. What a productive week. Early on we went shopping in San Jose to settle on roofing material, and get started on Kitchen and Tile. We also wanted to get serious about our stair design.

So, we started by visiting the local "EPA"; pronounced 'eppeh' which is the Costa Rican Home Depot. Honestly, I don't know if they are the same company, but it is very similar. We looked at EPA supplied kitchen cabinets, but found the variety and quantity wanting.

While in the store we found an awesome water heater (http://www.tanklessking.com/Steibel-Eltron-Instant-Electric-Water-Heater.aspx); and some great roofing. You can see the sample in our color here, and a sample house done up with the same roofing here. The cost is similar to the steel roofing Pietro was advocating, but this is quieter; has a long life, and looks great in our opinion. This is the website for the roofing manufacturer (http://www.stonehengeroofingproducts.com/). You'll see aspects of our house look in this sample from Stonehenge website, but our casa will be decidedly different as well as you'll see in the coming weeks.

Once done at EPA, we headed to Euromobilia (http://www.euromobilia.com/); who distributes Costa Rican manufactured cabinets in the european style. Beautiful stuff, without the pricetag of actual european makes. Sylvia was great. With her help we've conceived of a U shaped plan with an eating space which will integrate well into the casa. Later, when we were at the building site, we took that concept, and decided to change the location to a brighter spot. Lots more on that in my next blog.

Finally, we headed to Constru Plaza for plumbing supplies and porcelean tiles. We found a great line of Moen faucets for all needs with a beautiful Euro look, but with familar Moen cartridges. We also found American Standard bathroom sinks, and excellent ultra low flow American Standard toilets. Roderick and Andy were of great help. We are pumped about the tile selections. I think our vacationing guests will find the look and feel wonderful.

Finally, while in Parrita we saw a building

under construction that set the design concept of the stairs going up to our upper kitchen/living level. This photo is the concept photo for that. This all steel design creates a pan for concrete, which will be the substrate for our floor tile.

We enjoyed three nights at our friends Rita and Steve at Casa Bellarita - our first recommendation as a place to stay when you arrive in Costa Rica (http://www.casabellarita.com/).

So; this is part of the story. Probably a new post daily for the next few days. Enjoy!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Part 1, 2 and 3 are posted; others to come over the next several weeks. Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/

July 2nd Update

Hola Amigos!

I wanted to share a photo I took which, finally, actually shows the ocean in a way one can see. You'll see the strip of blue at the horizon, this is the Pacific. All the foreground green are plantations. My apology for all the foliage clutter. As we get closer to completion, and after rainy season, we'll have the sight lines cleaned up to open up our views.

While we were there this week, we noticed tons of tree frogs growing from tadpoles to frogs - many in the most unlikely places. For example, we have a small pool in the top of a concrete block along our retaining wall. Frogs layed eggs there, and now there are dozens of tadpoles growing. With the regular rain, that won't dry out - so a good dozen will go on to become frogs.

Kent and I hiked down to the cascada next to our lot - on a mission to see if we can just use many of the natural pools as places to go swim on days we want to cool off. While hiking down to the falls, there was this HUGE bug on a tree. I HAD to take a photo since it has to be the biggest bug I've ever seen. Regrets, I do not know the type, but that tree is at least 20cm thick. I did not see a termite nest this trip - and I had hoped to so that readers would have an idea just how huge those are. If I could have posted the sound at the point I snapped this photo, the sound of the waterfall was the dominant sound.

So, all for now...

Ciao!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

ps - Jim set up a NEW BLOG which will set about to give the history BEHIND this construction project. Part 1, 2 and 3 are posted; others to come over the next several weeks. Link is: http://jimdicktdacasainthebeginning.blogspot.com/