When the heck will this project be done already???

Hola!

Thank you all for following this blog for now close to 11 months. As predicted the time from getting the place undercover to finish appears to go very slow, even though many things are happening.

We have contracted for creation and installation of our windows and hope they will go in before March ends.

We have also been in touch with Dada Cocine, our kitchen place, and the GE Appliance store in San Jose. The kitchen is ready to go in and so is now in Dada's expediters hands. With tile and roof in place, even if windows are not done, they can install the kitchen cabinets. We are hoping that will be done yet in March as well.

What we hope will also occur before April 25th is installation of our septic tank/field. But the crews are very hard at work on other needs at Alazan, and that detail might not be finished by then. Since we've many, many things to do before plumbing will be online and fully ready for use, not having a septic will not be the worst thing.

Our friends Rob and Kent are hard at work with the crew down at the base of the mountain building the Guard House, and absent any photos from our project, please enjoy these views. Rob, Kent and Jim spent some time in concept about what sort of look that building might have. It has to serve multiple purposes. The upper floor is a residence for our new Alazan Concierge and his family. So that is a simple two bedroom, one bath home.

The lower portion is actually divided into two main sections. The portion behind the corrugated panels in the photo will be the new home for our SIX water entry tanks. Water comes from the water line along the road, and slowly fills the tanks below. Water is then pumped up to the top of the mountain to another six holding tanks, and is then gravity fed to the home sites. Managing it this way means we're not drawing high volume water from the main water line, so it can fill up slowly and not cause a hardship to others enjoying the water supply. The tanks ensure that if water supply is disrupted, we will still have water to Alazan. In the absolute worst case scenario, we might have to pay to have water trucked in to our tanks - but this beefy system should handle our needs.

The other half of the lower part is to hold future Alazan vehicles when we finally get them. It would be lovely to have our own back hoe down there. So if any of you are in a gifting mood, by all means, consider that to our little community. :-)

These final two photos are showing the great progress on the inside of the gate house. The white tile are the walls of the shower area, the red clay tiles the floor of one of the bedrooms.

Thanks for reading!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

Wow! The upstairs bath is tiled!

At last, we have tile in our upstairs bathroom. A beautiful looking job as well. Marvin was an exquisite hire for this job. He is pretty careful in finding level, and setting in place all this detail. Now, I acknowledge that in some of the closeup photos you'll observe some cases where lines are imperfect.


Understand thought that Marvin was doing this with fairly basic tools - eg: hand tools.


So, photo explainations. This first photo is of the shower stall area. That wood square right about showerhead level is actually looking through the window opening at the underside of the roof overhang. When the sideways louver glass window goes in, the fact that this wood is outside will be more apparent. For now, you can just catch that thin sliver of daylight at the bottom of that rectangle.


That color strip of small tiles is the same as we used on the shower floor. By doing this, we pretty much guaranteed that bathroom #3 will have somewhat different tile. No worries though, some variation will be nice.


Marvin did a perfect job getting the shower floor slope done in a way that runs all that water to the corner drain. Now, you may ask yourself, "why does he mention this?"... One of our observations for many places in Costa Rica is that whomever installs showeer floors often slopes it AWAY from the drain, not toward it. Yup, should be obvious but... Speaking of that

corner drain, why is it in the USA we tend to put those drains right below the spigot? We had noticed a number of places in Costa Rica favor corner drains and have come to really like them. That little square fitting is available right in Parrita, and is what we'll use in each of our bathrooms...

The other thing you'll notice in both of these photos is that not only is there a showerhead, but there is also a knee level spigot. We noticed this as a

popular option in Costa Rica as well. And where they are used, we found it a great way to adjust the shower temperature before having that spray of cool or ultra hot water hit our bodies. Plus, it is very useful if one is just washing feet (probably more useful in the lower levels). I think this second photo does a great job of showing the floor coloring.

When all is done, separating the shower space to the rest of the room will be a section of tempered glass with some sort of etched design on it rather than a full shower curtain. We've seen that in our friends Rob/Kent's place and really like the look. When we arrive in April, one of our early tasks will be to install the faucet and spigot/shower head. However, that tempered glass will have to wait. We have packed a spring loaded shower rod that will see duty as it makes its way into each of the bathrooms as this project unfolds.

This next photo is just a closeup of the faucet and showing, close-up, the look and texture of this tile. It does look like there is some cleanup opportunity that we'll probably work on from trip to trip over the next year. But on balance, a great job.

This next photo shows the shower space transitioning to the toilet (first black pipe coming back from the shower space). The second black pipe, smaller diameter, is where the sink drains to. This will put the rest of the pipe from the sink above the floor. We weren't too excited by this, but realize that the table holding the sink, towels, and storage will cover this pipe; and found that to be a more desirable option than boxing in the ceiling of the bedroom below to accomodate this drain.

The tile above the color strip was supposed to be textured wall. Our hope was to be able to introduce other colors in the space there, and make hanging a mirror easier. Unfortunately, it is tiled. Now, having said that, we still are loving the look, and think that the result will be at least equally beautiful if not more so. Imagine a dark wood framed mirror above the sink.

None of these photos will do well to show the two light fixtures that will go on these walls. But we purchased them on Feb 22nd while doing other errands in Milwaukee. The are technically an exterior light, but with a brushed nickel finish and a bit of nautical touch to their look. In a future post I'll show all the light fixtures. Then we can have a contest to match the fixtures to locations in the casita.

For the record, the toilet and sink are white. There is a fourth tile you've already seen in the finishes post; two posts ago; that will go onto the vanity top that will add a texture which combines the colors of the accent wall tile, and the shapes of the floor tile to draw this all together.


We're excited about the prospect of the completed photos since that is not horribly far away! However, while I had this particular blog post waiting for publication time; Rob sent the photo of the now finished shower. Those two larger tiles below the color band were added in after the photos above were taken. So this bathroom is shaping up to a finish!


Thanks for reading!


Ciao!



Ricardo y Jeeeem



ps - this final photo shows the two missing pieces now installed in the upstairs shower.

Furniture

During our January trip we had a GREAT furniture shopping trip to Sarchi - and town northwest of San Jose known for furniture builders. We spent the better part of a day checking out the various merchants looking for items we thought we would enjoy. There were a bunch of things we looked at, and where they would allow us, we took photos to remind us of things we liked.



We also got some ideas from friends homes in Costa Rica, and figure we'll apply some of those concepts as well.



After some hours of shopping, we saw the bed below, made of Guanacaste (a native Costa Rican tree; protected so it must be from a natural fall to obtain). The wood is much nicer in person than this photo conveys, but we really loved the detail and finish of this piece. We talked with the builder, and agreed to have him make complimentary side stands, taking some of the design queues he applied to this bed. This set then is the first of the furniture we bought.

Second to be purchased was a pair of leather/wood rockers along with a folding leather stool (get the image of a camp stool in your head). The leather is heavy and tooled, so presents an interesting finish. Our friends Rob and Kent have similar rockers, but with smooth leather. In part to not copy them, and in part because we like how the tooling looked, we bought a pair. But, regrettably, did not get a photo of them as the store wouldn't allow it, and we would have had to unpackage them to do a photo shoot before we left. So you'll have to wait until our late April trip to learn more.



Then we returned to one of the first stores we came to. During the day our concept of dining tables was to have a matching pair of square tables. But in the end we were liking either round or rectangular tables. The one below really caught our eye, and so we decided we would purchase it. In the same store they had some nice wood chairs with padded seat, in a pattern we could live with for a time (we assume we'll change that out before too many years pass). The backs were VERY comfortable, so we could imagine enjoying sitting in them for a long leasurely meal. We are assuming we will keep this near our kitchen, and that surface will do double duty when we need an expanded work surface. So we'll need to get a table for the veranda as well, but all in due time...







We liked this bed for its rustic feel, and are thinking of getting it or one similar for one of the first floor bedroom suites. There were complimentary side tables but I couldn't fit both the bed and side table photos in the same shot. Limited space in that store...


If we got this bed, our thinking would be to get a armour similar to this one which has hanging space above, some drawers, and a nice cabinet space with shelves. We could see this being useful for guests for who stay for a few days.

Finally, amongst Jim's favorites was this rocker we managed to get a photo of before the store owner chastised us for taking photos. This sort of style though might wind up on the lower verandas for one of the bedrooms.

Over time we'll buy more furniture and will post some of those photos when purchased, if they don't hit the casa too quickly and wind up on a completed room shot.

Anyway, thanks for visiting!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

Finishes

This is largely another photo blog. But in all our posting, we never shared the finishes that are now going into the place.

This first photo is of the main floor tile going on both first and second floors, and the steps. You've seen them at a distance since tiling started, but none so close up as this one. Still, colors aren't exactly true in this one, but at least show the detail and texture.

This next tile is a photo of that which will go on the bathroom walls, including the shower walls. We have two tile sizes, one larger, roughly 12x24 and these smaller 6x6 tiles.

This tile is for the shower floors (at least two of them). We may do something different in the third bathroom depending on how the supply lasts. During our last trip we decided to put a wainscoat of seven of these tiles behind the toilet and sink upstairs, and in the shower.

All of our lavatory sinks are the bowl on the countertop style. We have more than enough of this tile to do three counter tops, and still have some leftover. So potentially this will be the floor of bath #3 shower space. But the purchase was as table tops for our vanity. The tables will be steel (built by Gerardo) with white American Standard sinks and a very euro-looking Moen faucet mounted on the table deck.

All through Costa Rica are people who make baskets. So our intention is to have an upper towel glass shelf below the table, with a couple or three wicker basket "drawers" below those, and some free floor space below that. When the design moves beyond concept, will share that!

Our laundry will serve as the entry vestibule to the two lower bedroom suites. So we need it to have a clean finish, and to serve some utility beyond just being a laundry. The washer and dryer are energy efficient GE units that will go below a built in counter with tile on top and left side, and about 2" relief on front fascia.

In the center of this will be a stainless steel sink good for handwashing. We'll fashion a drying bar above so some things can be hung to dry, and others hung while taking out of the dryer.

We expect the counter to be deep enough to allow us to add some doors below to conceal the washer and dryer, along with plumbing of the sink; and to allow us to put a waste basket below for dryer lint... When we do this, we figure we'll build a similar item to obscure the water heater (which is small and handsome, but, still is a water heater). But initially these little finishes won't be in place...

So that's the start of our finishes.

thanks for reading!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

Stucco exterior starts

Hola! This is mostly a photo blog.


Well, the stucco exterior and interior has started. You can see the blue primer, and then the warm toned finish. Honestly, Jim has no clue what color this is!





We were able to see a sample of how this looks though when we were there in January. The texture is really nice. You can see a close up of it in the last photo of the first of the back to back Christmas 2008 blog postings. Consider going back and viewing that.




The final three photos are just a set looking up towards the bathroom end of the second floor. You can see the long narrow window in the wall. The glass and actual window will be four panels of double or triple louvered pieces. Using a pole, we'll be able to open and close them. Looking ahead and up you'll see one of the cupola feature end openings. These will be fitted with what can best be described as a mini sliding glass door with door screen. On each side (left/right) in the photo you can see the long rectangles of the longer window spans in the cupola. These will be divided with an additional upright in the center. If you do the math or think it through, this means there will be a total of 10 upright supports of the upper roof. On the outside of each one will be a sort of EAR or LOOP made of steel. The purpose of this, and the mini sliding glass doors at each end is so we can climb up on a ladder, caribeener on a rope with harness, and work around the roof to clean the outside glass, and to clean out gutters. Those long side spans will be fitted with louvered windows as well, also openable with a pole. We'll do our best to find a relatively lightweight but sturdy ladder to store in our bodega. Thankfully we have a nice long wall down there to hang it!



This next photo is pretty obvious, standing at the top of the stair looking down at Gerardo's truck. Mostly I took it because it give a good idea just how high up one is at the second floor looking down to the driveway. That drive is equally challenging to maneuver to drive back uphill, and out again.






This final photo is looking out off the lower bedroom veranda...

So that's it for this mini post. Thanks for viewing!

Ricardo y Jeeeem

All the rough plumbing is DONE!

Hello again. Thank you for following our story on our project building Casita Torrente de Agua.

In January we returned to Costa Rica with a primary task of completing all of the rough plumbing. We had left this project in a partially done state when we left from our October trip where we had hoped to complete this. In preparation, we did a lot of shopping at Home Depot in the USA, to make sure we had certain elements for working that are just not available in Costa Rica. Because we had to think ahead, we actually spent the time after our October trip beginning to amass a host of things to take down with us as we travelled. It is fortunate that for international travel we are allowed to carry on two bags and to check two bags as well. So this allowed us to bring 8 bags for our January trip.

We brought with us four of the five ceiling fans we bought - the fifth one comes with us next trip. Two in large suitcases, and the two largest wrapped with a handle fashioned. With the two smaller fans were a variety of plumbing items to allow us to finish the plumbing project.

In October all of the SUPPLY plumbing was in place when we left. All we had to do for that was to put the filter itself into the water filter system down in the bodega on this trip. We had intended to complete all drain in October, and indeed we did complete all the second floor systems to allow those walls to be closed up. So our big objective was to complete all of the drain plumbing UNDER the building. Jim underestimated how challenging that would be. The plumbing itself of course was pretty simple (from our warped point of view) - just a pair of drain lines; one for black water from toilets, and one of grey water from sinks, showers, laundry. Venting was done using a closed vent end that only allows the system to pull air IN (see first photo). We did this because we did not want to be penetrating the roof down there in a rainy climate as we do here in the states. That would just make sealing the metal roof all the more challenging. What we were able to do for this though was to share a common vent for the separate drain systems. That required us to ensure we had traps strategically placed so that sewer gas would not get back into the house. Note that the venting pipes are the ones closest to the "ceiling". Air comes in from above, water goes out below.

The big challenge was working on a 45 degree slope with limited headroom, and screwing the support hangers and straps into steel overhead. Since it is dry season, the ground was dry and a bit crumbly, so our challenge was to keep from slipping. The result was that what we thought would take one day took a day and a half. While we were able to attach the vent pipes with the J hooks; waste water had to hang lower and result in a slope. We used a nice vinyl strapping that won't rust, and which is strong and flexible. If you look closely, it is the grey colored strapping.

Some of the detail then in the various photos reveals subtle details. For example, that yellow pipe attached overhead is the USA type gas pipe to connect our big propane tank stored in the bodega with our gas range up in the cocina (kitchen). You can also observe the difference in keeping lines on a grid vs cross structure (blue lines) as our now fired electrician did.

In the fourth photo, you'll see some angled pipes. What this does is allow for a merger of grey water to black water. There is valving which allows our grey water to flow into the grey water holding tank for local treatment in a bio-garden (yet to be built). Or the grey water can divert into the black water, and be treated by our septic system. This is a one way conversion, so we prevent black water from entering the grey water system...

Both the white grey water pipe, and the black colored black water pipe exit under the dry bodega (that angled wall you see in the last photo). When Gerardo's crew installs the grey water tank, it will be located just below the generator room. The septic will be put in the much flatter land downhill from the casa.

Doing all this helped reveal to us some details that ultimately will help us. For example, we had assumed we would complete the retaining wall off the entry patio all the way to the building (last photo). But instead, we will alter this so against the house we can build a walkway - and a stair way cut into the hill leading downhill with some sort of concrete blocks surface as a maintenance path to the water treatment systems. We have some ideas to slightly modify our concept of the outdoor shower that we'll firm up during our next trip (we think). BTW, this final photo not only shows where the outdoor shower/boot wash will be; but the windows you're looking at are (close to far) bathroom #2, first floor entry (laundry is the first room; bedrooms off of that), laundry window, and bathroom #3 window. Bathroom #3 will be the last one done, since that is our access to the back of the electric panel, and thus our opportunity to do generator transfer switch wiring; A/C wiring, etc. We don't expect to complete bathroom #3 until late 2009 soonest, and perhaps even as far away as Q1 2009.

Thanks again for visiting;

Ricardo y Jeeeem

Flooring done upstairs

First, please accept my apology to not posting in so many weeks. My weak and wimpy excuse was that my computer crashed on return, and so I spent a good amount of time pulling that together, while spending the extra time needed whenever returning from vacation to catch up on work.

So I've some catching up to do, and since my ability to upload photos is limited for each blog, I'll spread these now over the next couple of weeks - posting about every five days or so.

We visited again in January doing part of our time work and planning, and part of our time enjoying Costa Rica and starting furniture shopping. So some postings to anticipate.

During the holidays our former tile man had taken this pretty far, but not quite to the end. The holidays took him back "off the wagon" - and so Gerardo replaced him with Marvin. Marvin does beautiful work very efficiently. In the main Alazan homeowners blog site (http://alazanhoa.blogspot.com/) there is a post where roadway improvements are going in - a pair of concrete strips with other material on either side, making a stable place for vehicle wheels to track on. Marvin built the newest one which is really well done!

So post holidays, Marvin finished the stairs, and the upstairs. So these photos are to show that progress. The first one is showing the tiled steps. The rest of the metal work need the final paint, and the outside walls need finishing, but this is the glimpse of the final view. It was our intention to keep the stairs lighter in appearance and function so that air can flow over them for both cooling, and drying the steps.

The second photo in this post if from standing in the kitchen area looking out. All along we've not concentrated on clearing the vines hanging down from the trees. In this trip we finally talked through doing so; so that when we return in April this should finally be opened up. I do need to discuss with my friend John who is an acknowledged photo nut what I need to do so that the bright distance can actually be clear as we shoot photos from under the jungle canopy out across the coastal plain; we can actually see detail.

In the third photo, having stepped forward and expanding the view you can see both the living room and the bedroom doorway. We are trusting that once all the jungle vines have been removed this will appear very open. It is very easy to see when standing there. And the view DOWN from the veranda is stunning.

The final photo in this post is looking across the upper veranda. Gerardo, our contractor and Jim are in the photo. Jim was as exhausted as he looks in the photo. In our next blog, we'll talk about why that was the case!

Of course, in all of these you can see the tile floor is completed, and that was the object of this particular blog. The progress you can't see is that we worked with Marvin on setting the installation detail for all the upper bathroom tile. I am really looking forward to being able to share that post. Marvin is also working on the stucco wall finish in and out, as well as lower level floors which I know has been started as I write this.

Thanks for reading.

Ricardo y Jeeeem