Pool House Expansion Project, Day 90 - 25/01/16

Ceiling Fans and Other Stuff

Day Ninety, 25 January, 2016

Monday morning, right after I unlocked the gate for the workers, I remembered I hadn't taken any photos of our new shipment from Easy Shipping to Belize, LLC. After grabbing the camera, I headed into the new house to snap away. On the way, I took a shot of where the laundry piping still needed finishing in the office. It's coming along.

Washer Hookup Backside Being Filled

Then, I made my way into what will be the utility, laundry, pantry room and took a few shots of most of the boxes that came in on Saturday (I think). It consists mostly of ceiling fans, a large light for over the bathroom vanity, a whole-house water filter, and a no-salt needed water softener.

Christmas in January With Fans and Stuff 

On my way back to the Mennonite house, I snapped a shot of the new clotheslines that I put up in another part of the parking palapa. Thanks to Denis for his help in tensioning the lines. Definitely more than a one-man operation. You might be wondering why we have laundry hanging out at six in the morning. Well, humidity is such that it generally takes a couple of days to get clothes hanging on the line to dry. These are beginning day two.

New Laundry Lines Being Put to the Test

After that, as I was making my way back upstairs for breakfast, I noticed the sky. The usual great colors, so I snapped a shot. It's not bad, but I really was hoping it would turn into one of those 'Bob Ross' mornings, that happen very often down here. Not to be for this morning. Still, I'll take it.

Sunrise Over Casa Winjama

Our new windows arrived. Here they are stacked in the living room. These new ones have a lever system to open and close, much like the other louvers in the old part of the pool house, but there is a big difference. The new levers have a rachet-like feel as you open or close them. Also, when they're closed, the lever actually locks in place. A nice feature.

New Louvers Waiting for Install

The other part of the order was the sliding glass doors. Here they are getting untied. the two guys didn't waste any time getting all the parts into the house.

Sliding Glass Doors Still On Truck

And then they got right to work. Here they're assembling the frame.

Assembling the Frame

Upsidaisy, and quick as can be, the frame is up in the air and being gently nudged into position in the doorway.

Hoisting Her Up

Like this. It looks so easy, it could almost assemble itself.

In Position More or Less

I mentioned a little gentle nudging. Well, yes, with a hammer and a few well-placed soft taps with a rubber mallet, and it was in position.

A Little Tap Here, A Little Tap There

They worked well as a team. One guy grabbed the drill and began putting holes in the metal. The other one came by with a countersink on his drill and countersunk all the drill holes.

Drilling the Holes

Like he's doing here. Then the first guy comes in and drills a deep hole into the concrete. And finally, the other guy has switched tools and is using his drill to drive the blue screws into the concrete.

Countersinking Drill Holes

Dianna was getting excited just watching them work.

Dianna's Excited

As soon as all the drilling and screwdriving was done, then they began to hang the stationary windows.

Fitting In A Stationary Door

But, first this slight break. Here's the back porch or stoop, all cleaned up and ready for tiling.

Back Stoop Ready for Tiling

Lest I get too distracted here's the guys working on the doors. They were busy .lining them up, and screwing and pop-riveting them into position.

Looking Like Glass Doors

As here. Top and bottom, rivets are applied. The door is already changing the character of the room.

Riveting Them into Place

Then, a short break while they check to make sure that they actually do slide.

Looks Like They Slide

Looking past the worker, you can see that the view is quite nice and really doesn't appear inhibited at all.

Still A Nice panorama

Then come the screens and the sliding glass door is done.

Adding the Screens

But they're not, yet. There's louvers to hang as in the view below.

Installing the Louvers

Each louver is adjusted for height and side-to-side location.

Adjusting the Fit

A nice looking louver. If you notice the gap at the bottom, that's because we didn't size the opening to fit these particular louvers. About the only way we could have done that would have been to have a completed louver on hand so that we could refine measurements.

The View From Outside

And a louver closed. A nice, tight fit - well, it will be once that corner gets nudged into place.

Louvers Going In

Work on the bedroom louvers is moving right along. You might have noticed the gap at the bottom of the louver. That's not a defect, but, like I said earlier about knowing the size of the louvers, you tend to end up with some gaposis at the bottom of the opening which must be filled with concrete and then colored to match. A minor inconvenience, but a commonly found one.

Installing Another One

It looks nice with louvers running down the wall. Gives the place a finished look.

Louvers All The Way Down

Omar has been busy laying out tile on the back stoop. He'll begin using Thinset to permanently anchor them.

Back Stoop Tile Fitting

I started work on a project of my own. Since we got the water softener, I decided I'd take a whack at installing it myself. This also means installing the whole house filter as well. All that will start tomorrow.

Whole House Filter and Water Softener

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.