Parking Palapa Gets a New Top

The thatch on the parking palapa came to its end a few days ago. We had the roof restored with 'zinc' as they call it, sheet metal by any other name would smell as sweet, or something like that.

Just Getting Started

Even though the thatch was beginning to show its age, developing more holes everytime we had a heavy rain, taking it down was still not an easy task. The way the thatch is wrapped around the horizontal stick part of the frame meant that each frond had to be pulled apart individually.

It Doesn't Go As Fast As You Think

Now we're beginning to see the skeleton. Quite an impressive structure. We'll be keeping that underneath the zinc.

Starting Framing For Screws

And, just like that, the thatch is all gone. Now they're putting up board framing so there is something to screw the zinc into, and to even up the roof framing so that it looks smooth and the zinc panels don't look wavy from the ground.

First Piece of Zinc Going Up

I just made it out of the house in time to catch the first panel of zinc going up. Already looks impressive, eh?

Close to Being Done

Here it is, almost all done, complete with ridge caps, which are shaped strips of zinc designed to fit over the ridges and help provide a water-resistant roof.

Underside View

This is what it looks like from underneath. Really shows off the original structure. I like the way it looks.

Tricky Corner

This corner of the palapa always was tricky. We had to cut back the thatch here because the corner of the concrete house was a bit close. Endher trimmed back the zinc roofing to allow for that as well, in order to keep rain from running down the house wall. He said a bit of the gutter will be run around there to help with drainage.

Endher Fitting Gutter Sections

 Yesterday was a full day for the crew. Fitting gutter sections, digging trenches and putting it all together. It sure looks good as the end result.

Chillin'

Sidewalk superintendent taking in the view of the workplace.

Digging Trench for Floor Drain

Here's the trench for the floor drain going in. This will make number four for the floor drains along the driveway. Combined with the flow from the gate area French drain, the Mennonite house, parking palapa, the floor drains, and the new house gutters, there's a large volume of water shooting out of the pipe into the canal during and shortly after a rainfall.

3" Drain Everything Connects To

Here's the three-inch drainpipe that runs pretty much the length of the property (it's roughly 250 or so feet long.

One Side Done

The gutter (eves-troughs to those of you used to calling them that) is in place on the north side. Soon to become blue like the rest. The structure is really looking nice.

Fitting Clamps for Downspout

Endher fastening the downspouts to the brackets. I really like the metal brackets they use. I hadn't seen them before Endher and the boys used them. It keeps the pipe off the wall surface and facilitates painting too.

Positioning Floor Drain

The four-inch floor drain going in. A two-inch drain would work, except the metal top is exceedingly thin and wrinkles up at the drop of a hat. the metal on the 4" drain is about 1/4" thick so it's extremely durable.

View From Mennonite House

A much cleaner view now from the upper landing of the Mennonite house.

Making It All Pretty

Touching up the final coat of blue on the gutters.

View As You Approach

This view is as you approach the palapa on the driveway. Looks very nice. All that's left now, is for the crew to install a shelter for my bike so that I can come and go easily and the bike is somewhat protected from the elements.

Pool House Expansion Project, Days 62 - 64 - 17-19/12/15

Plastering and Gutters

Days Sixty-Two Through Sixty-Four, 17 - 19 December, 2015

Compared to the previous day's post, things seem to have slowed down now. But you'd be wrong if you thought that. There's just a lot of detail work going on now.

One of the things that was slowing work down a bit, was the wall below. It seems our latex primer and paint was better than could be hoped for, at least when it came to removing it. I covered the various methods the guys tried in the previous posting, so I won't go into that here.

Anyway, after chipping off the rough pieces and parging the wall, it's now ready for a smooth coat of plaster, and that will pretty much finish that wall, except for the color coat, which will be coming soon.

Office Wall Today - Ready For Smooth Troweling 17 - 3.14

Speaking of color coats, here Omar is pouring a tray-full of the tan colored mortar for the walkways. It's a bit rougher texture, using stone dust, and will dry rough. The same idea will be used for the inside colors, except the mix will only use sand and will be brushed on using a wallpaper paste-type brush.

Omar Adding Tan Mortar Mix For Walkway Walls 17 - 3.13

This overhead shot shows the form and drain pipe for the screen openings on the canal side.

Window Sill Form on Canal Side of House 17 - 3.11

The concrete block on the old roof has been parged and the wood siding just needs about one more piece, ripped to half-height and installed to keep any splashing of rain water at bay. We'll also be brushing on a waterproof roof coating on the smooth concrete to ensure no water absorption.

Pool House Gable End 18 - 1.51

The screen you see here is metal. When it was first installed, it looked fine, but in sunlight, it looked very wrinkled. I had some leftover black nylon screen that I use for window screen in the house, so that was a good replacement. It will probably last longer too. Work on the roof ridge end cap still needs to be done.

Metal Screen 18 - 1.57

Here's a shot of the box of 'bling' tile we bought so Dianna can have a flash of color, a band in both the shower and around the vanity backsplash.

Dianna's Bling Tile 18 - 2.02

This is the tile we're going to use for the floor of the shower. It should look quite striking. Varying grays and browns with glass highlights and some metal-looking tiles in there as well.

Shower Floor Tile 18 - 2.02

This is the first piece of PlyCem, painted a sort of chocolate brown, and screwed in place as a soffit cover. I'm not sure how they're going to deal with the end bit where the siding terminates. Looks like it needs something though.

Soffit Cover 18 - 3.06

And, there's another piece of the soffit cover going up. It give the soffit a nice clean look and should help protect from bugs and moisture.

Soffit Cover Extends 18 - 3.06

And, that brings us to today, Sunday. Not a working day. Just as well. It's a day of rain. I think our rainy season has shifted about three months on us. Normally, this time of year is dry. Houses get a fresh coat of paint and all that sort of stuff. Hard to get that done in this weather.

As for the work outlooks for Monday. It's imperative that the gutters get connected. Luckily, with all the rain we've had, there's been very little erosion. But, if they don't get hooked up, it could be a problem.

Well, enjoy your day off.

Cheers,

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.     

Pool House Expansion Project, Day 61 - 16/12/15

Plastering and Gutters

Day Sixty-One, 16 December, 2015

First thing I noticed this morning was the nice blue paint on the corner column. It matches perfectly.

Blue Paint Matches Roof

Turns out today was going to be a very busy day. Mitch came out to do some final adjusting of the bathroom pocket door, as you can see below.

Mitch Final Adjusting Bathroom Pocket Door

While that was going on, the regular crew was busy smooth plastering the closet above, and in the photo below, doing the same in the living room.

Smooth Plastering the Living Room

Along about 10:15 AM, or so, Aaron, the technician from Capital Factory, came by to adjust the kitchen rollup door. When it was rolling up, it worked fine, stopping where it was supposed to. The past couple of weeks, however, on the downward run, it was trying to unroll more than it should. Aaron knew just where to tweek it to get it to behave.

Aaron Working on Kitchen Rollup Door

Mitch also brought his new compressor to try out the sandblaster that Carl had borrowed.

Mitc Watching Gauges on His Compressor

This is the sandblaster kit - a major disappointment. It's more of a hobby-type sandblaster. Whatever it was designed for, it certainly wasn't up to the task we wanted it to do, which was to remove the terra cotta paint from the textured walls.

Sandblaster kit

Omar, appropriately kitted out with goggles and mask, tries out the sandblaster. Pretty poor performance was the result.

Omar Using the Sandblaster

As you can see here, it would have taken a few days to knock the paint off the wall.

Sandblaster in Action

It even came with instructions, but still was inadequate for what we needed it to do.

Sandblaster Instructions

Next up, Omar tried my chisel gun, which unfortunately, worked at about par with the sandblaster. That too, was disappointing.

Trying My Air Chisel Gun

Here's George finishing the cubby above the closet. Not a lot of working space up there.

George Finishing the Closet Cubby

Finally, as a last resort, Omar resorted to the tried and true methods of removing a lot of the texture. He even tried a heavy wire wheel on the grinder - That removed the paint, but caused the primer underneath to burn. Not a desired result.

The last thing he tried was a diamond wheel on the grinder, which, in concert with the bar, did the job.

Omar Doing It Old School

A little after 2:00 PM, Denver Koop, showed up from Spanish Lookout with his gutter (evestrough) forming machine, to make seamless gutters for the new addition. We used Denver and his machine about seven or eight years ago to do the gutters on the Mennonite house. Those gutters have performed flawlessly, so it was natural to use him again.

Denver Koop and His Gutter Forming Machine

Once they feed the sheet metal into the machine, a series of rollers force it through the shaping die and out comes the formed gutter. It comes out fast too.

Here It Comes From the Die

And more is coming. I had to move quickly to keep up with photographing it.

And it's Coming

And yet more.

More Coming

Finally, thirty-eight feet of seamless gutter. A built-in guillotine cleanly chops it off at the die.

The Whole Thing

Here's the rollers I mentioned. They progressively form the sheet as it moves through until it fits in the die.

Series of Rollers Inside the Box

The end-caps come preformed and are forced on the end and then they use a special crimping tool to secure them to the gutter.

Putting the End-caps On

It's a two-handed operation to crimp the pieces together.

Using the Crimping Tool On the End-cap

After crimping, a shot of silicone caulk is applied to the inside of the gutter, ensuring a leak-free assembly.

Silicone Caulk on the Inside

Then comes, cutting the opening for the down-spout. That's done with circle-cutting shears.

Marking the Down-Spout Opening

Denver is showing how easy cutting that opening is done.

Denver Cutting the Down-Spout Circle

After that, the actual down-spout piece, also preformed, is siliconed and fitted through the gutter and secured from the bottom with screws.

Fastening the Down-Spout

Then, Denver and his helper carry the gutters down to the house and get ready to install them.

Bringing the Gutter Into Place

After prying out the drip-rail of the roof, the gutter is fitted behind that and a few screws used to hold the gutter in place for the next step.

It's Going Up

They determine the proper slope for the gutter using a laser level, which you can see in the background on its tripod.

Using the Laser Level to Determine Gutter Slope

Once the slope is marked on the fascia, it's a simple matter to screw the gutter in place.

Bringing the Gutter Up

While all that was going on, work was going on inside. Here, Omar is knocking a hole in the wall to find the edge of the column of the existing pool house, to help determine where they'll be knocking out the wall for the dining room.

Omar Finding the Edge of the Column

The wall of the utility room that will be staying in place (confusing, I know) is being plastered. This is in the office. The utility room is just on the other side of that wall.

Spreading Plaster on the Wall

Hard to tell that there was ever a window in that spot where Errol is plastering.

Errol Plastering Office Wall From Utility Room

Back to the Gutter. Denver's helper is applying the brackets, which fit inside the gutters and are spaced about every three or four feet, down the length of the gutter.

Positioning Gutter Brackets

Then the brackets get screwed into the fascia and the job is done. The only thing left is for our crew to actually hook up the down-spout to the drain pipe and get that all hooked up on both sides.

Last Step of the Process

This is a good shot of Denver and Carl literally talking shop. They were trading tips on roofing techniques and talking about some new 'raised seam' high-end roofing that has no exposed screws holding it to the roof. And that's the end of a busy day.

Denver and Carl Talking shop

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.