Wednesday, Again

Man, it seems like the week cycled through its days quickly. Here we are back at Wednesday 12 October, 2016. Granted, it's a week later, but still.

As you cycle through each day, it's easy to see that a lot has been occurring. The project is definitely moving out of the very heavy work stage of the project into more of the finish and make pretty stages.

High Part of Ramp Roughed In

The east side ramp is starting to look more like a ramp. Still has a ways to go.

West Ramp Footing Trench

On the west side, work is progressing, but it's a few days behind the east side one. Here, they're working on the outer footing trench. Might cast that this afternoon.

High Part Getting Closer

 Here's the east side ramp again after a couple of hours and a bit more work. I'm still going to watch closely to make sure the ramp slope stays in tolerances. From here, it looks like there's a slight bow in the middle.

Plastering Pump House Door Opening

Work on the pump house is progressing. Plastering inside is well underway, as is the door opening. I think it won't be long before the door and window louvers are back in place.

Farm House Deli Goodies

Shortly before lunch I had to go into town to take care of some business, and to do some shopping.

I went to Roshni's for some staples that only they seem to carry, Family for some laundry detergent that only they seem to carry with any regularity, A&R for a couple of small skillets (out, but 'soon come'), Evergreen for pharmaceuticals, New World for a crate of Belikin (why drive all the way to the Bowen and Bowen distributor? New World only charges $1.05 more than B&B), and a couple of other places. Just your average shopping trip in Corozal.

The last place I stopped at was The Farm House Deli, part of Ian Anderson's Caves Branch growing conglomerate of outstanding cheeses, meats, baked goods, and a bunch of other stuff. They're going to be doing this every two weeks. Yea! Don't know if it will be at the House of Culture all the time or not.

It was on the front lawn under an awning at the Corozal House of Culture. Worth the stop. I got a pound of hard Parmesan cheese, a pound of Polish salami, and a loaf of rye bread. That made a nice finish to the shopping trip.

Productive Lunch Time Too

All the workers take part in lunch time fishing. Usually, they catch small pan-size ones, but today, a nice sized barracuda will be making someone's supper very satisfying.

Pouring Ramp Footings

After lunch, work proceeds on several fronts. Pouring the east ramp outer footings. Probably tomorrow, we'll see the ramp taking near final shape. Should be fun.

Plastering Pump House Doorway

Work is proceeding with the pump house. Here the door opening is being plastered. I peeked and the window opening is getting the same. Shouldn't be much time till both are installed.

Plastering Inside

Plastering is proceeding apace inside the pump house as well.

Footing Trenches for West Ramp

On the west ramp, the trenches have been dug and rebar laid. Concrete should be poured for this sometime tomorrow. The raised PVC pipe isn't part of that. It's our temporary water line for the house. It's soon to be re-routed.

Footing for Circular Stair Pad

Part of the west ramp project is the footing for the pad for the circular staircase. That's what this is. It will be the same height has the top landing of the ramp.

Rainy Tuesday

It started out as almost being foggy. With that, I figured we most likely weren't going to be getting any rain today, Tuesday, 11 October, 2016.

Was I ever wrong. About 11:45 AM, out of the north from Chetumal way,  here it came. Not a super soaker, but still, enough to make all the workers scurry for shelter a couple of times. Good think it's now lunchtime. The guys can all hunker down and little, if any, work time will be lost.

Widening the Ramp Area

Dianna and I decided the track that her rolling walker will go up and down needed to be 3/6" wide. Since the ramp forms a 'U', that means the whole thing is about 7' across. So that's why Erwin is taking out that big chunk of the patio concrete.

Plastering Above the Waterfall Area

Since the waterfall itself is going to be about five or six feet high, there's still a lot of surface area above the waterfall that needs to have something done. We're toying with the idea of having a mural done up there in some nautical or jungle theme or other.

We may not reuse the plastic waterfall piece that we used in the old waterfall. We're not planning on having much in the line of a free-falling waterfall, more of a cascade sort of thing, if that helps, so we're looking to Mario and crew for that design.

Plastering Pump House Back Side

I shot this one, kind of in the blind, through the window opening of the pump house. The plastering of the outside of the pump house is almost done. I'm guessing the inside will go next.

Probably after that, the columns will be plastered along with the beam. All that sort of stuff has to be done before work starts on the pool and the deck.

Hidden Away, Work Is Happening

I heard drilling and sawing and banging going on all morning, but never saw anyone doing any of that, well, except for the various noises the guys working on the ramp were making.

Finally, I saw a couple of heads bobbing around in amongst the Areca palms, so I grabbed my camera and went to investigate.

Here's where a lot of work is going on. What they're doing is building a suspended shelf, supported by a lot of rebar on the backside of the pool. It runs in between each of the columns back there, and will be providing a support area for the wall screens, so they present a uniform appearance all around the pool. Is that cool or what?

Little Better View

This photo gives a slightly better view of that work. They're better than half-way done fabricating the shelving. Once it's cast with concrete, it will make the back side of the pool look just like the other sides.

From the Waterfall Area

This view I shot from around the waterfall area, through the plastering scaffolding. it gives you a much clearer idea of just what they are doing back there.

Ramp Beginning to Shape Up

The first ramp is really moving along. In this shot, you can definitely see the slope of the ramp. It's going to be slightly less that 1" to 1', so Dianna should have an easy time navigating.

Lengthwise View of Ramp

This lengthwise view shows this is the upper half of the ramp, with the lower half yet to be formed. It's going to be big, but I'll bet we get used to it and don't even realize anything is different.

Sticks From Inside Pump House

The sticks have come out from supporting the roof of the pump house. They'll be moved out of the way tomorrow.

Ceiling Getting Plastered

Inside, you can see the plastering of the ceiling has started. I don't know about a small space like this, but I do know, in a regular sized room, when the plastering starts, the humidity in the room goes through the roof (no pun intended).

Good Shot of Forms On Back

Here's a nice shot of the shelves that got cast late this afternoon. they'll start removing the form sides and tops in the morning.

Start of a New Work Week

this is the start of another week. The project is continuing.

Rough Coat Plastering Continues

The rough coat is, bit by bit, becoming the smooth coat, and that will be topped with the colored concrete texture on the new part of the house. The roof edge will be the blue trim.

Footing Trench for the Ramp

The accessibility ramp will be large. It's track is going to be 3'6" wide, so that makes it about 7' wide overall. and with about a 12' run (for ADA compliance), so it will be a rather large structure. We're going to have the same railings for it that we had them put up for the Mennonite house. That'll look cool, and will also help unify everything.

Footing Trench Has A Good Start

The ramp will have a sort of double footing, since it will be folded over on itself. If you're confused, all will be made clear eventually.

Cut Line Shows Width of Ramp

The cutline in the concrete (where the dust is) is, more or less, the total width of the ramp. The ramp on the other side of the deck, at the parking area, will be a mirror image of this one.

Saturday in the Park

Well, that's the lyrics that came to mind. Although Chicago sang about being in the park. How about our pool? and almost mid-October. Close enough for gummit work.

Work is progressing, although I'm sure Dianna wishes they'd just go away. She's in bed with a pretty good cold. I fixed her some chicken noodle soup for supper last night, and she's staying dosed with Benjamin's Cold and Cough Medicine. I think it's kind of like Buckley's. Tastes terrible, but it works.

Prying the Forms Apart

Another nice day here in Corozal. Already reaching for that 90°(f) mark. The guys are speedily dismantling the sides of the chain forms. The base and the sticks will stay for roughly 10 days or so, to cure properly.

Taking Away the Wood Pieces

Big pieces, small pieces, and everything in between coming down.

Scaffolding for Plastering Going Up

Work platforms are also going up right away so the plastering can begin. Here the first one is going up in front of the waterfall part of the pump house.

Good View of Metal Brackets

This picture shows the metal brackets on top that will be used to anchor the cross braces that will anchor the metal beams that will help support the shade cloth roof.

Plastering Has Begun

Mario said this part will really seem like the project is slowing down. Probably so.

The plastering moves along, but after a bit, it seems slow too. That's experience from past projects speaking.

Chipping With a Hatchet

One of the things the junior guys of the crew are doing is chipping all the smooth cast concrete surfaces to roughen them up using a hatchet. Slow, mindless work.

Applying the Rough Coat

Around the edge of the pump house roof will be smooth and painted blue. the rest of the pump house will be textured and terra cotta color like the new portion of our house..

A Natural Golf Swing

The last piece of the metal framework that held the awning over the pool is going away. Erwin seems to have a natural swing developed for that.

The Other End

Here's the other end of the structure for the old awning. Almost seemed a shame to get rid of it, but it did it's job for a long time, so it's ok.

Last Blue Support Coming Down

Here it is, actually coming down. Who knows? Some of it may yet be used as a support for the circular staircase.

Carrying It Away

And away it goes, just over to the little palapa to await its fate.