The Inner Sanctum

It seems like ages since we've been on the far side of the fence.

Last Friday, after our afternoon get-together, we went to a birthday party across the street at Mae and Craig's house (Craig's 58th - Happy B'Day) and finally got to meet our new neighbors, Mike and Shelly. Mike is the new chiropractor in town. During the course of the evening, they invited us to come over to their side of the fence and take a look at the construction that has been going on for months.

Since we've been sidewalk superintending the project from the comfort of our front porch since it started, we were curious and leapt at the chance to see it up close and personal. Bright and early Saturday morning, we grabbed the camera and headed off to see what things looked like over there.

It was a fairly short hike, as such things go, since Mike and Shelly just opened their new gate in the front wall facing the road.That and they're just next door.

Approaching the Newly Opened Gate

Swinging in through the nice  wide gate, you get the view in the photo below. There's three Conex boxes to the right, which are used to store construction and other materials. To the left is the pool house, or that is what it will be when it's a bit more completed. Off in the distance is the main house - actually a duplex, Mike and Shelly will be living on one side and friends of theirs will keep a place on the other.

Just Inside the Gate

Crossing the courtyard, you can see in the photo below, the original gate location which they closed off. There is going to be an 'L'-shaped swimming pool somewhere here, so the wide open space you see below will eventually give way to lush tropical landscaping. You can also see where the original gate has been blocked in ready for some finish plaster work.

Courtyard Approaching the House

Their Soakaway

When we visited, as soon as you step inside, we were engulfed by the bewildering forest of support timbers used to keep the roof in shape till the concrete has a chance to firmly set.

Dianna Negotiating the Forest

I'm not going to pretend that we understood the layout of their house. At this stage, and with the forest closely packed throughout the place, it's just too hard to make that determination. Oh sure, there's a couple rooms here and there where you can say, "This definitely will be a bathroom," or "kitchen", etc., but most of the rooms will just have to wait for a bit more definition before you can comfortably hazard a guess as to its future utility.

One of the House Rooms

The main purpose of this particular tour is to give you a glimpse of how it's put together, with the use of the Styrofoam and steel mesh panels. The company that makes it is called Covintec Systems (http://www.covintec.com/). It does make for a unique construction process.

Several of the rooms had pipes, located up near the ceilings, that at first, seemed a total mystery to us, but then we decided they must be conduit for air conditioning, for the water supply and return lines and electrical power and control lines.

We Asked Why the Pipe?

One thing that will be certain, is that the house will have a high ceiling throughout, as you can see below. Even with the new materials, some of the angles of the ceiling, I'm sure present some difficulties for the construction crew, however, it should look great when it's done.

An Expansive Ceiling Area

Right now, it's hard to tell which rooms belong to which side, just from the photos. But, since it's all just Styrofoam and raw concrete, it really doesn't matter too much.

Room on Canal Side

For my money, the canal-side has the best views and the best lighting of the house. As these photos show, they're  nice and bright. Once they get finished and furnished, it should be spectacular.

Canal-Side Looking The Other Way

More Canal-Side Rooms

From the canal-side room, there's a great view of the canal where it turns and empties into Corozal Bay. Quite a nice view.

Canal Takes A Left Turn to the Bay

Here's a view of Mike and Shelly's boat dock. Enough room to tie up the fleet. Should look really nice, all landscaped and finished.

Boat Dock on the Canal

At the other end of their dock area, I snapped this photo. I've been wanting to get a piece of iron similar to this for the end of our dock.

Nice Looking Iron Work

These next two shots aren't so much of Mike and Shelly's place but looking over the fence at our place. Can't resist sometimes seeing it from a different perspective.

Looking Toward Casa Winjama

Another View of Our place.

And back to the tour. We're now working our way out. This shot is the interior of their pool house, which I understand will have a small apartment and the pool equipment. Right now, it's got lots of piping.

Pool House Piping

Here's another view of the pool house. This gives you a good idea of how the panels go together.

Another View of the Pool House

Ok. That's it for the tour. You know, there's one thing I noticed with the new crew. There's singing, laughing and the occasional holler - something that hadn't been heard over that way for a long time. At lunch time, there's usually a spirited football (soccer to the uninitiated) game among the crew, but as soon as the clocks hits one PM, the cement mixer starts up. I think it's all an indicator of a happy construction crew. Personally, I think that's a good thing.