A view of things to come... Honey? Where do I park the car????

Hi again everyone.  Before we left in October we did some planning, took measurments, and talked through a new retaining wall construction project with Rob.  Please double click on any drawing or photo to see a larger view. 

The object of this NEW project is multifold:

First, parking is difficult and it is dangerous to walk on the sloped driveway which heads right to the house from the main roadway.  The alternate path from the end of the roadway is also unstable and dangerous. 

Second, we've become concerned about water coming from uphill to the existing retaining wall (left of drawing) which currently intersects the house above the bumpout.  We want to extend that wall so there is a gap between it and the house foundation, and where we can put a relatively level gravel path across what we call the back of the house.  And we want to add perf pipe above that extended wall so we can better manage the flow of water coming downhill, and keep the future courtyard drier. 

Third, we don't really have an entryway to the house, nor an "inside" space connecting upstairs to downstairs.  Our vision has always been a courtyard, and an outer secure door so that we can feel "inside" when we go from upstairs to the bedroom level.  So much of Costa Rican living is outdoor living.  And we've had a long held vision that the space at the bottom of the stair, and in front of the door leading to the two bedrooms would be a finished "inside" space albeit with no roof.  In essence, we want to create a new front door leading into a new outdoor room which results in the feeling of an integrated upstairs/downstairs. 

Fourth, we need to create a safer entry to the bodega, but want to maintain it as an area separate from the house in case we wish to make it a separate small dwelling in the future.  Direct connection to the parking pad makes the most sense to us. 

This first drawing shows the house, calling out the stair going up, and the current ramp down to the concrete pad at the base of the stair, and to the level 2 entry door.  So this is a representation of what already exists.  That bump out you see on the left side of the house footprint is top floor only, so from the bottom of the stair, one walks UNDER that bumpout. 

This next photo on the left was taken while standing on the concrete ramp towards the house from the dotted lines of the first drawing below (which represent an underground tube carrying rain water downhill).  This photo is looking downhill from that point.  At the very bottom of the photo, you can see the edge of that lower curved wall as represented in the drawing above.  That "lower curved wall" is the one with the sharper bend on the right in the first drawing above.  The photo shows is sight line of what I describe below as the "left-right" wall.  The stairway is left, not visible in this photo.  The main drive/roadway is on the right, also not visible in this photo.

This next drawing represents what would be phase 1 (of two phases) to develop additional retaining walls, and create a parking area with relatively level path into the house.  It also includes extending the existing upper retaining wall (on left of this drawing) across the uphill side of the house (eg: left).  We would add perf tile along that whole wall to direct water coming from above across and away from the house.  It will also create a level path between the extended part of that wall and the house that is four feet wide (1.25 meters). 

In this second drawing, you'll see the new retaining wall go under the stair, and then proceed left to connect to the existing upper foundation wall.  The wall and left bend UNDER the stair would go directly THROUGH that vertical black post you can see near the center of the photo (below), then left to intersect with the foundation wall.  We feel that will add an additional layer of stability to the foundation wall since it T intersects the foundation wall.

Coming down from the house, that new wall T intersects to another (left-right) wall. The left-right wall intersects with that existing sharp curved wall to the left; and proceeds right, and then back towards the driveway.  To lend perspective; standing on the ground at the 90 degree corner on the right; the wall would be approximately 7 feet tall.  The top edge would be two blocks lower than the house foundation wall (roughly 9 feet below the existing concrete at the bottom of the stair).

One very significant feature on this drawing is that the tube would be extended with a 45 degree bend under the drive to a more natural downhill path.  The reason for this is that we're finding significant erosion on the current UNnatural path down the mountain, and we fear that will create a dangerous future situation.  So dangerous that even WITH this change, we will still have to rock that new channel a hundred fifty feet or so downhill to limit future erosion.  We have already lost some downhill trees as a result of this path.  The "old" mountain didn't have the valley here that our constructiion created. 

The inside of the new retaining walls would be filled with earth/rock/gravel to level it out to driveway level.  That will form a more level pathway into the house.  Due to that sharp original retaining wall blocking a direct path in, the pad will initially hold only one car.  Still, we will be able to do a 3 point turn to reverse direction and drive back up towards the Alazan entrance.  In phase 1, the dangerous existing concrete drive to the pad at the bottom of the stair would remain. 

This new wall would fill in this slope that you see in the photo above.  The parking wall would cross in front of those three tree trunks.  The right hand wall coming back to the driveway would go just to the left of that larger trunk you see on the right side of this photo to the right. 

THESE CHANGES WOULD COMPLETE PHASE 1.



The VISION of Phase 2 (drawing to the left) is to create a new front door and entry courtyard.  So the wall under the stair, and LEFT of where that T intersects to the parking wall would be raised to 7 feet tall. [It would actually become nearly as tall as the HAND rail of the stair where that black post referenced earlier is.]  Then it would proceed left creating a doorway, and a NEW wall would be created back out and left blocking the current ramp drive.  The concrete towards the house up from the new wall would be removed.  A new low extension of the wall left of the doorway would continue left to the upper retaining wall on the far left.  This would create a NEW planter visible from the house side, but not the driveway side.  A level concrete/tiled patio would be in the new INSIDE area.  A single step would be added to navigate up from the parking pad to the new courtyard.  A new decorative security door would go in the doorway opening, and become the new FRONT door.  A new stair down to the bodega would be directly right of that, and off the parking area.  A small gable end roof would cover the doorway and stair down to the bodega.  I did not attempt to draw in that small roof in my rendering. 

Before we ever begin Phase 2, phase 1 will be complete with new photos, new perspectives and a new drawing of what Phase 2 will actually become.  We hope construction of Phase 1 will be done between January and April 2012 - and that Phase 2 can be completed January - April of 2013.

Thanks for reading.

Dick and Jim