Pool House Expansion Project, Day Eight - 29/09/15

This cave-in, which occurred adjacent to the 2nd gate and driveway, required some prompt action.

Day Eight - 29 September, 2015

The guys were expecting several deliveries of sand, gravel, large rocks and cement. None of it light (in weight) stuff. In the picture below, it's been cleaned and readied for a small load of rock to fill it. After it's filled, Carlos (our caretaker) will cover it with marl and after a while, you wouldn't know there was ever a cave-in there.

Cave-In Being Remedied

Before the trenches can be filled with concrete, steel rebar must be added.

Cutting Rebar to Length

Along with cutting the rebar to length, there's a need for smaller diameter rebar (like 1/4" stuff) that is bent and formed to make a sort of collar for the rebar that helps give it some 3-dimensional qualities, like in the rebar columns. Here's Omar forming up a bunch of those for just that use.

Omar Bending 1/4" Rebar As Frames For Heavier Rebar in Columns, etc.

The rebar part of the project moved right along, as you can see from the photo below. And already the vertical pieces for the columns are set, making use of Omar's frames.

Rebar is Already in the Trenches

The shot below gives you a little bigger perspective of the whole project. if you're wondering why the rebar runs up so high for the columns, keep in mind that our ceilings in the new part are going to be 9-foot 6-inches. Nice and high. They appear more so right now since the floor level hasn't been cast yet.

Big Picture of the Vertical Rebar Pieces

One thing I had never seen before is the use of concrete standoffs to raise the rebar in trenches up to the mid-point of the pour. Oh, sure, everyone uses bits of concrete block to use as standoffs, as well as whatever other material may be on hand.

This is the first time that I've seen purpose-built standoffs. These even come with a length of tie-wire molded into the standoff, in order for it to be married to the rebar, so there is little danger of the rebar becoming misplaced during the pour. Pretty cool idea.

Deeohgee Inspecting the Concrete Standoffs

One of the tasks that's very important from our perspective, is keeping a handle on the spending for a project, especially something that's fairly major - at least as far as our bank account is concerned. Dianna loves doing this, and dove right in. She set up a notebook, and has everything organized. Tracking invoices, receipts, and estimates, is right up her alley. I'm so glad she likes doing that, and she's good at it too.

Dianna, Reverting to Her Past Life, Keeping the Books

Of course, we've found another small cave-in. It's right next to the round one that we patched up already. This one's a lot smaller. As work progresses, any leftover concrete the guys have, goes into the hole. For now, that seems to be sufficient. We've had heavy trucks run over it with no problem, so it seems to be under control. We are keeping an eye on it. Just one of the hazards of living on a limestone coast. We're lucky in that none of the cave-in activity around here seems to be on a par with the really scary stuff like up in Florida.

Another Small Cave-In. This One is About One-Foot Across

One of the real treats whenever we have a construction project is that the breakfast man,  'FatBwai' (Fat Boy in standard English) shows up and sells hot dogs, tamales, hamburgers, patties, all the good breakfast stuff to the workers. He doesn't have everything every day, but the menu varies a lot. He also sells bags of juice and some bottles of juice too. The mornings he doesn't show up, the workers all complain that FatBwai is starving them.

FatBwai Bringing Sustenance to the Troops

If you'd like to see more photos of our project as it moves along, check out this link. Click on https://www.flickr.com/gp/winjama/GwZ9si to see the complete album of the Pool House Addtion Construction. It'll get added to daily.

Pool House Expansion Project, Days Five and Six - 26-27/09/15

We got back from Belmopan on Saturday afternoon.

Day Five and Six - 26 and 27 September, 2015

Just in time for Sunday and Sunday night's Blood Red Moon, really just a total lunar eclipse. But still, pretty cool. I stayed up as long as I could to see it. Not quite half way through the five and-a-half hour progression of the eclipse.

You'd be surprised how strong the beliefs down here are in old wive's tales and legends of what can happen to pregnant women, children, women who want/don't want to become pregnant, etc. I think the old beliefs may be losing ground, because of some of the questions we got asked about it. But, unless you can give a factual, simple and easy to understand answer, but even then, the fall-back is to continue believing the old ways.

My Pocket Camera's Take of the Blood Red Moon

 We came back to lots of mounds of marl and trenches run everywhere.These guys worked hard. And that's even with rain delays.

Colleen, who house-sat for us and tended the animals too, told us about the heavy rains and how the guys had to shovel the water out of the trenches before they could continue doing their work. We owe Colleen a huge debt of grattitude for staying here, and for her husband Bruce, who had to take care of matters at their own home while Colleen was gone. Thanks guys. We owe you.

A Lot of Progress - Mounds Everywhere

Of course, by the time we got back, the heavy rains had subsided. It was pretty much georgeous weather on the home-front by then. Don't those trenches just look great? We were surprised and happy to see how much progress had been made.

Trenches Look Great in this Shot

Pool House Expansion Project, Day Two - 24/09/15

The guys show up, all riding in Carl's pickup. 

Day Two - 24 September, 2015

He has a Sport Trac too. An omen, perhaps? They get directly to work cutting poles down to size to use as stakes, which they promptly pound in various places around the yard. Much better than beer bottles.

Stakes Appearing All Over the Yard

Omar spent much of this first day, supervising placement of the stakes. Some of them are measurement stakes and some will be holding corner boards.

Measure Twice and Stake Once

All the measurements for level stem from measurements done earlier by Omar to find where the floor level was at the back of the pool house. Everything comes from that level. There's high-tech solutions, to accomplish the same thing, but the best and cheapest is still the ancient water level.

A form of the water level is credited by many to Theodorus of Samos,a 6th-century BCE, Greek sculptor and architect.  Carl Sagan, in  his series Cosmos, said that Theodorus invented the level, several other tools, and bronze casting. Good enough for me.

Ancient Water Level Technology Determined Floor Level

Now come the corner boards. They do a couple of things. The corner boards help keep the block lines running true, that is straight, and also carry on the level as determined by the water level. They also help determine square corners.

Corner Boards Come Next

Here you can see a slightly more modern level, a spirit level being used to determine the straight run from two points on the corner boards.

Floor Level DeterminesString Levels

As you can see, if you look close, corner boards become somewhat complex items in and of themselves. They'll be used clear up till about when the foundation walls are finished and the floor is ready to be cast or poured.

Surrounded With String and Corner Boards