Pool House Expansion Project, Day Forty-One through Forty-Five 20 -25/11/15

PC brought things to a halt.

Day Forty-One - Forty-Five, 20 - 25 November, 2015

For a while, I was cooking right along with daily postings that allowed everyone to easily keep up with the construction project. Well, all that ground to a halt here a few days ago. My PC went on the fritz again.

Actually what happened is that the PC got lonely for Fred's (Fred Orio) shop, Corozal Virual Office, and more than likely, his office kitty, Cauliflower. Anyway, there's a problem, possibly with the new motherboard. It starts to boot up and dies.

At least Fred is getting the PC to do the same thing it started doing with me. That's a good thing. I have high hopes that Fred will be able to fix it soon. 

What I'm using to post now is a program for the iPad, that allows me to post directly to the blog. Text works fine. Where it stumbles is adding pictures to the mix. And I've been using a lot of pictures. They're just going to have to wait for the PC's return before photos reappear.

I think when I left off, there was still a bit of roofing zinc that needed to be applied. That has been done now, and it looks really good.

Omar Measuring Roofing Panel Spacing

Other work that has been going on, is finishing the woodwork on the gable ends. There were pieces of the shiplap siding that had to be removed to hoist the gable end trusses into place, and there were pieces that hadn't been installed for various reasons, like on the north side, the part that contacts the original pool house, had to be shortened in order to fit the existing roof structure of that part of the pool house.

Working On the Eve Extensions

I was lucky to be stepping outside with my camera just as the crew was hoisting the first piece of zinc up to the roof. It looks simple enough, till you realize it weighs about 70 or so pounds, and the angle it's at, one slip, and it quickly becomes a guillotine.

First Panel Going Up

Now, they've got some screws in to hold it in place. From here on out, the roofing will move fast.

First Panel More or less In Place

Saturday dawned grey and cool. Kind of a lousy day for doing much you'd think, but you'd be wrong.

Ridge Cap Is Nearly Done

The crew was just about finished with the roof, applying the ridge cap and finishing up some details on the ends. But that only went so far. They were short a length of flashing to be able to finish up the north gable end. There were some other details that combined were going to delay finishing the roof till Monday.

But the weather and not finishing the roof only gave impetus to them working diligently down below on the walls, putting more of first coat of plaster on. I got sidetracked doing other things and didn't get any photos of the afternoon's work on the walls.

And Another One Does Up

Here's a shot of the underside of the roof. Beginning to look like it all makes sense now.

Looking At Roof From the Underside

Fitting the Inside Foam

Ridge Cap Nearly Done

Looks Like A Real Roof

The only question is on the ridge cap ends, there isn't an insert that blocks that hole that is available. We're thinking of using a quick shot of expanding foam to do that, but are reluctant to do that, because of the danger of shooting the least bit too much can cause more problems than too little.

A late breaking note on the ridge cap ends. I found a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX76_eaW7ag) that shows a cool way to finish the ends so that they're secure and you don't have to shoot any expanding foam inside., Maybe just stuff in a hunk of foam rubber or something to help the end to stay in position. Anyway, I thought it was a nice solution.

There's additional ship-lap siding that will be added so that cosmetically, both ends look the same. Then varnish will be applied, and screen material added to the louver windows.

Another Piece is On the Way

Inching It's Way Up the Roof

Magically Up On the Roof

Twisting And Turning It'll Get There

Final Adjustment Before Screwing It

The other work that has been going on is parging or plastering the block walls. That really cleans up the way the house looks. They're going to do a rough texture on the bottom foundation part to match the rough texture of the existing pool house, then they'll do a smooth texture on the upper surface of the exterior walls.

Preparing Corners For Plastering

Rigging Stand For Plastering

West Side First Plaster Is Don

George and Errol are hard at work on the east side. Their stand is almost not high enough.

George and Errol Plastering East Side

This is over on the west side. The stand is almost too high. This is over on the west side. The stand is almost too high.

First Plaster Applied to Walls

It's fun to watch the guys apply the plaster on the first coat. It's all in the wrist as far as the technique of slinging the soupy concrete mortar mix from their trowels onto the walls.

Errol Slinging An Expert Trowel

There was a little break in the action, so to speak. No pun intended. But, there was a crack in the pool. This wasn't the first one we've had, and it probably won't be the last. Carlos and I are getting proficient at repairing them. All it takes, really, is some elbot grease, hydraulic cement, and some Diamond Brite to finish it off

Pool Crack Soon To Be Fixed

Here's a view from the topside looking down. As you can see, at this point, it's been a few days since Huey's been running and keeping the pool bottom clean.

Top Of Crack

That pool fixing stuff was going on at the same time as the on-going work of the house. Below you can see what happens when a concrete form relaxes a bit and allows the concret to slump out of position. After it cures, someone (in this case, George) has to come along and chisel it true again. A minor inconvenience.

Fair Amount of Chipping Required

Here's a couple of samples to give you an idea of what the texturing will be like. For the Veranda and walkways, the walls and ceilings will be done in a slightly rough texture, and will be in a light tan color.

Concrete Texture Samples

The exterior walls, the lower part will be done in teracotta to match the existing pool house, and the upper part will be the same except for the corners, will be blue columns at on the original. We'll also be making liberal use of stone dust for texture.

Concrete Color Samples

Dianna has gotten into the act, doing a bit of additional mixing to help get the color the way she wants it.

Dianna Getting Into It

It's getting closer now. Still has a way to go. It's a lot like mixing paint, except you're using concrete mortar.

Dianna Describing What She Wants

And now, back to the pool. Carlos is using my air chisel, which really speeds up removing concrete that has failed for some reason or other. Right here, he's taking care of a surface crack that is only in the Diamond Brite on the pool bottom.

Air-Chiseling the Bottom Part of the Crack

As you can see up the pool wall, it's a pretty good-sized crack. You can't let that intimidate you. It's no where near as bad as it looks.

Big Crack

Of course, keeping things clean is a big part of the repair process. Here Carlos is sweeping up a bunch of small chips, etc.

Carlos Cleaning Up

A big help in cleaning the crack was to use the air-blower of the compressor. A lot of dust and small chips were still hiding inside even after we thought things wer pretty clean.

Cleaning Out the Depths

Once, it's all nice and clean, then it's time for the hydraulic cement. This stuff is expensive (it comes in a 5-lb box and costs around $25.00 BZD. The really important part about it though, is the working time - that's only on the order of five minutes, so you have to work quick, and be thorough. There's not much time for a second chance.

Carlos Patching Using Hydraulic Cement

Now that the crack is finished, all that is needed is a nice coat of Diamond Brite.

Big Part Don Except Diamond Brite

As you can see Carlos applying below. it doesn't have to be thick, but it should be applied in a fairly even coating.

Carlos Diamond Briting the Patch

Finally, I've reached the end of this posting. Stay tuned. More to com.

Cheers

Dave

There's many more photos than appear in each posting. You can see all the photos of the construction project on Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/winjama/0wVc3s. There will be new photos added each day of the project.