The Wall: Phase 1 Posts

Hi again everyone.  So in this little photo set, we're laying out three posts which will, ultimately, be the outer support posts for the ROOF which will partially cover parking and will provide cover for both the front courtyard entryway, and the stair down to the bodega (storage) level.  So this is mostly a photo blog and I'll caption each photo with its purpose.  The roof starts at stairway posts to the existing house, and extend out over all of the entryway of the courtyard, and beyond.  It is about 2.7 meters from existing house to the three new posts.  And the roof will be a total of 6 meters long at the top (will be a prow front roof so will be only 5 meters at the gutter lines).  While modest, the roof covering the parking area will be enough to keep doors and rear hatch covered if we back into the space so we have coverage during a driving rain. 

First post (ridge post) placed

Second post placed (downhill side)

All three posts lined up and mostly plumb

All three posts plumb and temporary bracing done

The Wall: Phase 1 Trenches



Hi again!  So this is mostly a photo blog, since text won't help all that much.  But let me set the stage.  The starting point in the big retaining wall project was first to dig trenches.  These start out fairly minor to set the path, then are deepened.  This first phot shows the beginning trench going uphill, and that little leg to the right  goes through the stair center support post, and then cuts back uphill to join the house foundation. 

That little tree in the bottom right corner of the photo was broken off when trimming dead trees at the beginning of this project.  It used to provide what would have been awesome shade over the parking area.  Alas, that will take 2 or 3 years to regrow the top; but should be a nice tree to have in this space. 

This next photo continues the trench in the first one downhill, and then cuts "left" to the driveway.  There are lots of perspectives I might have oriented these photos. But seemed to me uphill on top, and downhill on the bottom made most sense.  In future blogs you may want to make a mental note to come back to this one.  There will be a couple dozen more as this particular project continues....

In the first photo I mentioned the trench cutting right and through the center post of the stair...  This is another view, from uphill down.  If you double click the photo it will enlarge and you can see the cut back to the foundation (stairs rest on the foundation). 

This is a view of the bottom of hill trench from ground level.  I'm actually standing on the bodega floor as I shot this, somewhat higher than ground level.  The driveway level is at the top of this photo.

So this little set gives some idea of where.  Size...  That trench in the lower photo is 4.5 meters long.  The cut at the bottom right corner is a 45degree angle that'll make more sense in future blogs. 

So there you have it!  This marks the beginning of the work.   

Exterior Painting Started

You've seen the prior photos with some trial color paint.  We've been looking for something similar to the color of brown mustard.  Our inspiration color was "Silver Spring brand Deli Style Horseradish Mustard".

With Steve DeVore's help from Casa Bellarita in Santa Ana CR, I went to a paint store in Ciudad Colon and got some of Costa Rica's best brand paint mixed to a color chip I brought with.  I took that gallon to the coast and tried it out on the stairwell wall, leaving some of the ugly yellow we tried before.  You can see the two colors (new = darker).  Passing this photo to Dick who was in WI at the time, we agreed we found the color we were looking for.  I asked Steve to order in three more gallons so that I would have adequate supply to do what I think we need to do.  Likely will have to purchase an additional gallon, but clearly have enough to start.  Note that triangle below the stair still needs stucco, but once done will get the same color.

So I began the stair well project, which if you read blog entries around now will also show the new lighting.  In order to get up high enough I needed to fashion a longer level platform.  This concrete block and pieces of fibrolet allowed me to make a level base.  Rob's shorter extension ladder was perfect for working within the stairwell. 

This shows the ladder in place, reado to continue painting the stair well walls.  This worked very well and I was able to do around the window on the right, and the right side of the window on the left.  It was at that point I hit my height limit. Ladder was too verticle for my tolerance.  But, for the left side of the left window I acted as ballast while Rob painted the left side of the window. 

That just left the bumpout side and for that, needed our taller extension ladder.  Gotta tell ya, it was some doing for me to get up to the top of that and apply paint.  I waited awhile with that ladder in place...  Then climbed it with nothing in hand, just to touch the top of the wall.  While doing that I told myself that there was still mountain higher than that point, and that I could continue.  With that little bit of mental trickery, I grabbed the paint can, and brush, and headed up.  Painted along the very top.  Then climbed down, lowered the extension a notch, did it again, and so on until I was done. 

The result is the very nice looking sidewall.  I intentionally waited until the afternoon sun was hitting the wall to take this photo. 

In the future, there will be a roof whose ridge comes off that center post of the stair.  The lights will line up just above it, and the same green roof will be on that lower roof.  This new roof will cover the entry, and the better part of one vehicle parked on the new parking pad. 

This photo shows the side wall painted, and most of the wall below the bump out.  IF you look CAREFULLY you will see a spot of that original yellow just to the right of the entry door, and "south east" of the outlet on the wall.  Blow up this photo by double clicking and you can see it better. 

The color isn't very true in this photo, with the side wall appearing much yellower than it actually is. 



I took time to paint the angle brackets for the bumpout, and also the metal work around the teak door frame.  Now that we see this, when I pick up on painting black again, I'll paint that aluminum frame above the door black as well. 



Some ideas for the future.  In our bathrooms we've been using a lot of green tile.  And we have a fair quantity left.  We're thinking of using it as a "baseboard" at the bottom of this wall, and also as an applied color strip just below the windows.  What do you think of that idea? 

Thanks for readiing...

Dick and Jim

Painting Railing

Of major note this trip was how much rust had developed on the railing.  And it had been at least two years, probably more, since they had been painted. 

This was a lot MORE than a simple coat of paint.  There was a lot of rust.  So bought a drill end wire brush and proceeded to wire brush all sides of all the metal work making up the railing.  Then proceeded to sand with coarse metal sandpaper, then fine metal sandpaper. 

Wipred down all the metal, then proceeded to repaint.  In some areas Jim needed to put on two coats so as to get adequate coverage.  However, in the end, all of the upper veranda railing is repainted; ready for new layers of rust!

I like the way this outer corner looks with fresh paint on it.  Went from ugly to beautiful again!

Jim

Maintenance Lighting

Last trip we came with brand new lights for the upper veranda lighting.  But on trying out one fixture, just did not care for how it changed the character of the upper veranda.  The reason behind the attempt to change was that several bulb holders just did not function anymore. 

We had long had three same fixtures on the stairs coming up which matched the four veranda fixtures.  Originally we had a wood mask with a light behind it as the center fixture.  But with Bedroom 2 finished, we liked the look of it there on the inside walls...





On this trip, Jim took down all of these fixtures, took them completely apart, cleaned them, and after checking integrity of the wire, and making a few deft snips and restrips, reassembled each of the fixtures.  This time, and for the first time ever, we had FIVE fixtures across the upper veranda all the same.  The photo above is from right after installing the rebuilt fixtures.  As you can see, all now work.

This next photo was taken that night, without flash so one can get the full effect of the five properly functioning lights.  We both think this came out perfectly.  Further, the light cast on the floor comes exactly to the edge of the tile. 

The other feature from our October trip was that of the five light covers of the "new" veranda fixtures, the glass broke in one of them. 

So the choice came down to using all four on the lower veranda, or use the smaller version of the upper veranda fixtures there.  Choosing to have the light shine out more towards the driveway, as well as up and down, we decided to put the new stainless square fixtures along the stair. 

This first photo above shows the lights installed right after applying (part of) the new wall color (so that there was paint behind the fixtures).  This second photo was a flash free nighttime photo showing What these lights look like at night.

Water Management Tubo

Each year the flow of water during rains has gotten much more intense.  This opening project was to reroute the tubo that went under the "temporary" driveway and down a cascada next to out house.  Over time, with other construction adding huge volumes of water we've lost an enormous amount of land due to wash  outs. 

This rerouting is to take that water and send it down the OLD way, as the mountain was forming.  There will still be need for a cascada there, and some additional stormwater management; but overall, rerouting was the right thing to do. 







This first photo shows the tubo going under the driveway up at the collector above our "temporary" driveway. 








You can see the soil filled in over that "wound" in the drive. 








This shows the block zaccate back in place with tubo running under it. 

This  shows how the water collector was patched and a new hole made in the side to take water to the right.  This should also slow down water as it hits that "wall" and is diverted to the right. 










This last photo shows the patched driveway.  Now there is NO tubo running under the concrete in front of the Hyundai "Tooksun"  The wall in the center of this photo will be knocked down as part of the new wall system going in now. 

The place where the Tucson is won't hold vehicles in a couple of months.  Instead the new parking pad will be past that low wall at the photo center, and where the Tucson is will be part of the courtyard and new 'inside' space.  The outside wall of the new courtyard will run from the collector in the lower left corner of the photo and cross on the right side of that dip in the center wall. All of the concrete pavement in front of the Tucson will be removed.  Much of that will be garden off the courtyard.

Maintenance - Water, Ladder Rack and Fibro

So much to do this trip!  Before all this started and early on Rob, Nelson and I finally reviewed the tiling/stucco project that has remained unstarted since last Fall.  We went through it all, but in the process found that while all the fihrolet had originally been properly attached to the metalwork, during Javier's electrical work he only attached one screw per piece.  So I spent a morning and a full box of screws reattaching all of the fibrolet in Bedroom 3 so that it was ready for stucco.  I also resorted all the tile, and stacked in the CENTER of the room so that Nelson had clear space.  All that remains if for Rob to remove the plywood that is being donated to the Upper Guard House project.

Once all that was done, no more needed to be done inside on that level. 

There is future work to be done, but more on that a few blog posts from now. 

So the other thing that was left poorly done from the October 2011 trip was the water filter on the bodega level.  We had limited fittings so Javier did it with limited supplies and in a fashion Jim was unable to live with.  Further, the fittings over the blue filter housing leaked about 1 gallon per day. 

So armed with a small supply of fittings and pipe, Jim took apart that setup and redid it as you can see in this second photo.  This photo was taken right after gluing up the fittings which is why the valves are OFF.  The support for the blue housing doesn't exist as in the original filter setup, this would have gone beneith the kitchen sink with the other two filter housings for the drinking water system, and those supported this blue housing between them. 

So that bit of electrical wire hanging from two screws is my arranged hanger for the filter. 

As part of the The Wall project, the hose bib off the driveway needed to be extended.  I regret I don't have a before photo.  But in this AFTER photo, you can see it was extended to just past the trench for the new lower wall. 

With workers using the bodega level to make up rebar cages; my ladders were in the way. Using a piece of rebar on EACH of two angle pieces, and having Avarro weld them to the angle pieces, in just a few moments we fashioned a good ladder rack. You can see in these two photos both the 28' extension ladder, and the 8' A frame ladder.

So, this sums up this part of the maintenance post, and makes up the first Feb 2012 series.