Pool House Expansion Project, Day 103 - 09/02/16

Garlic Vine, sliding glass door, Mr. Matute and Stacy, Granite, Shower Shelf

Day One Hundred Three, 09 February, 2016

Tuesday morning, I was heading from the Mennonite house down to the pool house to see what was going one with the project, when I noticed the garlic vine was in bloom again. We have about 100-feet of garlic vine along our northern fence. It's gorgeous when the lilac-colored flowers show their stuff.

Garlic Vine Flowers 9 7.40

After getting side-tracked for a few minutes with the garlic vines, I made it into the pool house. There were a couple of things going on early in the morning. One, taking up a couple of tiles beside the sliding glass door in order to add Thinset under the door track to made it rigid.

We'd noticed that around the middle, where you're likely to step on the track, it had some sag when it was stepped on. We wanted to stop that, so the easiest way was to take up the two tiles and feed as much Thinset as we could under the track.

Prying a Couple of Tiles to Fill Under Track 9 - 7.44

Then Mr. Matute and Stacy showed up and began working on the counter once again. Here, he's using the rubber grit pads to polish the oval. In this stage, it's necessary to have running water to flush away the debris as well as to provide lubrication for the rubber pads.

Smoothing the Oval Cut 9 - 8.23

The oval is especially hard on the pads as pretty much just the outside edges of the pad get used polishing the granite, so pads tend to wear out sooner.

More Smoothing the Oval Cut 9 - 8.24

Back inside, the Thinset has been mixed up and is ready to trowel under the track. You can see the places where the tiles have been removed.

Thinset to Go Under Track 9 - 8.24

Outside, the back drain pipe elbow has been persistently leaking. This time, it was taken out and really glued up. Now, no more leaks.

Down Spout Really Glued Now 9 - 8.25

Caulking the basebaord and door trim is proceeding. There's times when it seems that it might not be necessary, but after it's done, it's apparent just how it spiffs up the woodwork.

Caulking Basboaards and Trim 9 - 8.26

This shot of Dianna appreciating the fact that the vanity pieces are finally in place was when I realized she may have a problem using the mirrors in the medicine cabinet doors. This was something she herself hadn't even thought about.

As a result, we've added to the to-do list, that the medicine cabinet needs to be lowered about five more inches.

Dianna Enjoying New Vanity 9 8.38

I mentioned the rubber polishing wheels that Mr. Matute was using to polish the granite. Here's one as an example. They come in many different grits, all color-coded.

Rubber Polishing Wheels 9 - 8.43

Mr. Matute brought a whole assortment of the discs with him. Normally, with flat polishing, he can get a disk to last for around ten to eleven pieces of granite. With rounded surfaces, he's lucky to get seven or eight. Since he has to order the disks from the states, that in itself becomes quite an expense.

Whole Assortment of Wheels 9 - 8.44

Here, Mr. Matute is rounding the bullnose a bit more. Working with granite, everything is done in small steps, especially with cut openings. You have to be careful not to overheat any one part of the stone as that could lead to its cracking.

Putting Bullnose On Granite Slab 9 - 8.46

A final step is washing away the dust debris.

Hosing Off the Debris 9 - 10.30

Here, they're laying out the centerpoint for the two faucet holes.

Figuring Centerpoint for Faucet 9 - 10.45

Checking to make sure the faucet actually empties into the basin is a good idea too.

Think It Will Go There 9 10.46

Once they're done cleaning the debris off the granite, it's time to move it into the house and place it on the vanity. Because of the large hole in it, the granite is now more fragile than ever, so extreme caare and caution is the word.

Bringing the Slab Inside 9 - 11.02

Heading through the house, going into the bedroom.

And Through the House 9 - 11.03

And now into the bathroom.

Into the Bathroom 9 - 11.03

They've set it on the leading edge of the counter.

Resting on Front Edge of Counter 9 - 11.03

  And will now gently slide it to the back.

Slide It Toward Back 9 - 11.04

And, ever so gently, begin lowering it down to the counter top, being careful to avoid light switches and outlet covers. We did trash one outlet cover in the process. Granite took it out very fast.

Lower It Down 9 - 11.04

Finally, it's resting flat on the counter.

And It's Down 9 - 11.06

But then, it needs to be raised back up for Mr. Matute to apply the very expensive epoxy.

Propped Up for Glue and Positioning 9 - 11.16

Here, Mr. Matute is mixing the epoxy.

Mixing Expensive Epoxy 9 - 2.00

As you can see, it's being troweled on. It does have a slower setting time so there is enough time to trowel it onto the surface.

more Trowel Work 9 - 2.02

And another type of epoxy is used to cement the sink rim to the granite. Here Mr. Matute is spreading that over the rim of the sink.

Spreading Glue on Sink Rim 9 - 2.08

As I mentioned before, work is continuing elsewhere, like in the office, grout is being applied to a couple of tiles near the laundry piping (hidden in the wall).

Grouting A Couple of Tiles in Office 9 - 2.03

Now, the template that Mr. Matute made outside is positioned and the holes for the faucet are drilled.

Drilling Faucet Holes 9 - 2.18

A common problem with working with drills, is the vibration tends to loosen bits as below.

Oops 9 - 2.20

And, there we are. It all fits.

The Faucet Fits 9 - 2.27

A final step is adding epoxy to the interface of the sink and the granite counter.

Adding Grey Epoxy to Rim 9 - 2.35

Then cleaning up, using both solvents and water, depending on what's being cleaned.

Cleaning Up 9 - 2.40

Continuing to show what else is going on at the same time, Omar has just finished grouting the shower shelf. it looks very nice.

Shower Shelf Done 9 2.41

And the shower controls, that were problematical from the get-go, are now under control and looking good.

Shower Faucets Almost Done 9 - 2.41

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. 

An' Jus' a Li' Bit More...

Really, just a li' bit more to finish off the drain pipes.

Here's the finished product. Cody "turned and burned", as we used to say in the (USN/USCG - take your pick) to finish the project today.

Now, we're ready for any rain. I think all total, we now have five floor drains installed at various places in the yard. So, even if we do get flooded, it should dissipate rather quickly.

All Finished and looking Good

And now, from the other direction. "I almost can't wait till it rains," he said, non-committally, in a manner that should not tempt the fates to let havoc befall the region.

And Looking the Other Way

Li' Bit of Fishing

Shortly before lunch, Dan and Beverly, our neighbors across the street, came over to catch some fish for lunch.

Bev is certainly the angler of the two. Her fishing tackle consists of a 5-gallon bucket with a few minnows they caught yesterday down by the ferry, a length of monofilament fishing line, a medium-sized barbed hook, and, let's see, what else?... Oh yes. Some bits of tortilla used as sort of a chum to attrack fish to the area.

Bev Fishing, Dan Assisting

Don't be misled by the simple tackle box. She can cast further and more accurately with her setup than I ever could with rod and reel.

After about an hour's fishing, here's adequate proof of Bev's ability with a line. A catfish about 18" long, several other smaller, but pansized fish. They headed home to begin frying them up.

Good Eats

Here's the next-to-last bit of the drain pipe project. All the pipe bits have been connected and the floor drain set to the correct level. All that's left now is for Cody to bury the pipe with the rubble beside the trench - and tamp it, a very important step, especailly if we happened to get any heavy rain right after filling the trench was completed.

Here's the Floor Drain

All in all, not really much of a construction project, but it felt good to be doing it. And it will help keep rain from puddling in the yard.

Here's the Completed Pipe Sans Filling

Little Bits and Pieces

I guess this is my usual Friday routine, a virtual grab-bag of stuff - small projects that are in progress or completed and that seem to get attention drawn to them in time for the weekend or, at least Friday.

Again, I'm starting off with Dianna painting her trellises. This time it's the one in the raised bed. And she talked me into putting up our patio umbrella for shade.

The Artist At Work

The other trellises (trelli?) - on the side of the well house, Between the front stairs and the breezeway, and between the back stairs and the generator room.

Well House Trellis

Front Stairs Trellis

Back Stairs Trellis

Raised Bed Trellis

Say, speaking of the generator room, its contents... Our 5.6 Kw generator is up and functioning. I had to get a new battery for it. Anyway, for the hurricane season, I've got it on a weekly test schedule. Every Wednesday, I fire it up. Tomorrow, we're going to go over all the circuit breakers to see just what the load is and how we can best keep the place operating under generator power. Should be fun. The generator room works great. It holds down the noise and the smell and it's secure.

And another electrical item - the front gate... WORKS! Yea!!! After several months of wishing and hoping, Isaiel finally got all the bits and bobs welded to it, and by golly, it works. Pretty fancy. It came complete with two remots and a hard-wired switch in the kitchen. I have two more remotes on order. One for Cody and one for guests when we have them. Really beats getting out of the rig in the rain and opening/closing the gate.

Our other project that is mostly done for now is the gutters. As you can see below, we have gutters around all four sides of the house and they match the roof color. Then the downspouts (3" PVC Pipe), I'm in the process of painting to match the house colors. Where it's wood, I'll paint them a light brown.

Gutters and Downspouts

Downspouts

For the gutter on the back side of the house, I'll be putting in two 600 gal. Rotoplas plastic cisterns to capture the rainfall. the overflow from the first will fill the second. Then it's overflow will tie in to the French drain and go to the canal. I'll have a pump motor and a shutoff valve, so that if we loose well water, a simple flip of the valve, turn on the pump, and we'll still have water going through the RO system and the water softener. I have to build a concrete stand first for the cisterns to sit on, so they don't get punctured by rocks, etc. Oh, and buy the cisterns, too.

Speaking of draining to the canal, here's a shot of the 200+ foot drain pipe emptying to the canal. It doesn't look like much here, but naturally, before I got my camera and came back to shoot, it was going like gangbusters, shooting out about 2 1/2 feet into the canal, and about 2/3 of the pipe full of water. Wow! All that water won't be flooding our place no mo!

Water Draining to the Canal

Other stuff going on... Cody constructed another garden area with concrete curbing to route cars around the palapa, as well as putting a curb around three sides of the palapa to corral the gravel inside.

Cody Filling the New Planter Area

Vehicles Properly Bedded Down

Naturally, with the rainy season or hurricane season (samo samo), the weeds start growing with a vengence. Here's Cody mowing (or as it's called - "chopping") them down with his trusty machete. At first glimpse, it seems really hard to mow this way. But, it's really efficient and fast. And we don't have to buy a mower... yet.

Cody Chopping the Weeds

After the last rainfall during the week, and believe me, it rains. Heavy and hard. Lots of water. I mean serious rainfall here folks. Anyway, after the last few days of it, I noticed Dianna's hobby room was still leaking a smidge around the seam where the floor footing meets the wall blocks. So, I had Cody dig the gravel out from the wall, exposing the footing top and the lower wall. I went to Villa's Supply, and got a gallon of Dry-Lok (Thanks Twyla, for reminding me of the product name and where to get it). We managed to get one good coat on, and it had about an hour to dry before it started raining again.

I checked downstairs this morning - no leak. So, if all goes well and the forecast holds, I should be able to apply a second heavy coat Saturday or Sunday and then we should be good to go.

Cody Prepping the Footing/Wall Area for Dry-Lok

Let's see, what else? I made a short run to the Vet, Dr. Sheila. It seems Blue has a urinary track bacteria attack again. More antibiotics seem to do the trick and fast too; Canadian Bob has left for Canada for three weeks; Elsie's already there; We got her car back from Rick the mechanic - still full of glass. There's a new car wash place in town that does detailing. I'm going to take it there and have them go over it with a fine-tooth comb; I have to order a new keyboard for Dianna's computer. The "M", "N", "Enter", and a couple other keys just won't work. Hopefully, it's an easy fix. Speaking of, I got my computer working ok again, thanks to Roger Cookson.

Guess that's all for this evening,
Cheers.