Barra de Navidad (House Building 6)

If you missed the previous parts, you can catch up on:

How this whole thing started.
Building the dock on the canal for Sea42.
Building the House Part 1 and finding the property.
Building the House Part 2.
Building the House Part 3.
Building the House Part 4.
Building the House Part 5.

My blog on Barra de Navidad.

It seems like no time since the last trip and I'm back in Barra again. I've been having a fun time home in California as we have had such a mild dry winter and lots of sun. Ive spent so much time here now that I slip back into the routine of living on the boat very quickly.

One goal of this trip was to get the boat out of the canal and out into the ocean. I've been in the canal10 months and I've forgotten how to sail! It will be a good opportunity to empty all the holding tanks and check all the equipment still works.

The tides are favorable this week early in the mornings to get out of the shallow canals so I prepared the boat to sail over to Cuastecomates bay, anchor and dive on the boat to check the hull and prop. I got out of the canals no problem and the boat went fine. It took about 30 mins to get to the anchorage at Cuastecomates and I dropped the hook. The water was clear and warm and I got to dive and clean the hull.

The house is moving along, not as fast as I would have liked, but progress has been made.

The retaining wall for the pool is complete


Most of the interior/exterior rendering is finished and sealed


Details on the cupola. I'm really glad I added the tower. It has become the centerpiece of the house.



The frame for the kitchen island. Power points on both sides. Ready for concrete.



The island will have a gas stove and a granite top when its finished



Spiral stairs to the kids bedrooms. The frame is welded in place.


The stairs from the master bedroom balcony to the pool/garden. The room below the stairs is for the pool equipment.



During this trip I selected the tiles/stones for around the pool area and on the stairways. I think that is the last of the choices to be made. Hopefully I'm done with choosing house finishes and materials for quite a few years!

Our architect Alejandro estimates completion in around 2 months. I will return again at Easter with the family.

I'm keen to see the windows and flooring completed.

Barra de Navidad (House Building 5)

If you missed the previous parts,  you can catch up on:

How this whole thing started.
Building the dock on the canal for Sea42.
Building the House Part 1 and finding the property.
Building the House Part 2.
Building the House Part 3.
Building the House Part 4.
My blog on Barra de Navidad.

 I returned to Barra on my own for 10 days after spending the new year with my family on my last trip. The boat looked ok other than a few bugs making a home down below. A few hours cleaning up and everything was back to normal. Later in the week I had all-sorts of battery problems and I ended up taking the port bunk apart to get to the golf cart batteries. Turns out they were out of water. I ended replacing 16 liters (4 gallons?) of water. I later worked out it had been a year since I last topped them up. I hope I havent permanently damaged them, but they seem to be fine now.

In addition to the battery problem I had my diver clean the hull and check the zincs. It had been 6 months since the last time and I was interested to see what effect the canal water has had on the undersides. The zincs were around 70%, but the prop looked like a toffee apple had been dunked an a bucket of nails! It  was totally unusable. He spent a few hours chiseling of the small coral reef. Next time I will only wait 3 months before having it checked. I'm thinking that putting a thick black plastic bag over the prop during the summer should reduce the growth.

During this trip I made a trip to Colima and Guadalajara to choose marble tiles and granite counter tops. Its a 4 hour drive and would mean an overnite stay in the city. Marble and granite in California is an expensive luxury but in Mexico it is a good investment as the cost is significantly less and you are far more likely to get your money back if you ever decide to sell your house. Ceramic counter tops and flooring really date fast but natural stone can be timeless.

The house construction was moving at full steam and gave me lots to see. During our time in Mexico we have noticed some unusual Arabian style architecture that at first appeared out of place. When my mother visited last year she identified the cupolas and arches she saw as Moorish. After some research it turns out that before the Spaniards arrived in Mexico they had recently been invaded by the Moors from Tunisia. The Moors (or their descendents) have had a strong influence on the Spanish architecture that gives it the unusual Mexican/Spanish/Moorish hybrid style you see here.

We decided we must have a typical cupola built above our stairway, so our architect found us the cupola specialist and set him to work. Having grown up in the UK I saw a lot of fancy brickwork, but I have never seen anything like this made before.

The cupola brickwork is completed, every brick laid by hand, using with no forms. Not sure how we will finish the exterior yet. Some sort of Spanish tile seems common.

The finish inside the cupola is beautiful.

The framework for the palapa roof quickly begins to take shape.

The center column is put in place. The timbers are seasoned local woods that are rot/bug resistant yet strong.

Bamboo is laid across the timbers to support the palm fronds. Reminds me of thatched cottages in England, but with different materials.

The finished palapa is sprayed  and sealed. Check out the 20ft high plank he is standing on supported by 3 ladders!

The columns are treated with an acid stain giving a permanent wood effect..

During the week, some friends BBQ'd a whole pig. After 11 hours of slow cooking it was ready. If you've never tasted a whole pig slow cooked an open fire, it should be on your bucket list. Peeling off the bacon is the best.

 The painter dropped by and put up some different colors and finishes for us to choose from

The area for the pool is cleared and most of the dirt removed.

Digging out the pool. The bottom is below the tide level, so the salt water had to emptied every morning.

Lots of  fallen trees and roots made it tough work. This area was once a large mangrove swamp with tall trees until the canals were built in the 60's

The pool foundations and perimeter wall are finally laid after a week of digging.

The pool retaining wall under construction. Next, a steel and concrete wall is built and then another block wall before the finish tiles are applied. The pool will be in a nautilus shell shape with a beach entry. This is the deep end.

The marble tiles I selected on my trip to Guadalajara. Not sure which we will use yet.

We stopped in the historic city of Colima on the trip to Guadalajara. It reminded me of Rome.

I finally found some time to sit down with a cold beer and enjoy the sunset at Barra before I returned to California

During this trip I needed to sort out my property and city taxes. I had asked my local friend Pepe to drive with me to Chihuatlan city hall to sort it out, but I ended up doing it all myself. It turned out to be no problem and was all done in a few hours using my limited Spanish. I was pretty happy with myself after that.

A pleasant surprise was my city association fees which included using the canal, having my boat at my dock, garbage collection and 1 year of unlimited water use for the house, being just over $11. That works out just over 3 cents a day mooring fees for my boat. Slightly less than California!

Barra de Navidad (House Building 4)

If you missed the other parts you can catch up on:

How this whole thing started.
Building the dock on the canal for Sea42.
Building the House Part 1 and finding the property.
Building the House Part 2.
Building the House Part 3.

I returned to California after spending a fun new year in Barra with my family. The builder had finished one bathroom in the house for us to use. This made life much easier as we all stayed on the boat for the 10 days we were there.
 
While we were there we completed the design of the pool and the kitchen. We also made a few changes to the layout of the interior. The builder Alex has been really flexible about this. For me that's really important as I like to change things as the project progresses and I finally see how things look in real life for the first time.  

Sea42 tied up in our back garden. Most of the rendering on the exterior walls is now complete and the circular support for the palapa is in place.

Lionel our plumber sorted us out with some horses on our trip. We all rode to the top of the local hill that looks over the bay. The girls have been taking some lessons so we could all gallop back home along the beach.

Riding thro downtown Melaque. The horses didnt spook once even with the noisy traffic passing us and dogs running out  barking to check whats going on.

Looking south across Barra Bay above Melaque. Barra de Navidad is in the distance

The girls had fun riding from the boat to the local beach

Riding horses around the half built house was quite a novelty

Eventually Mum got to ride as well

Building the spiral staircase. The maestro did all the math in his head and it worked out perfectly.

A final smooth coat is applied to the columns supporting the Palapa

Looking down from the roof where the palapa will be.The chalk lines in the garden are remains of our pool designing session on our vacation.

Palm fronds are delivered. Looks like the palapa roof could be starting soon.

The arched doorway to the TV room is prepared. The loose bricks below the arch are temporary and removed the next day.

Im flying down to Barra for 10 days this weekend to check on the progress and finalize a few of the finishes such as tiles and surface materials.

Barra de Navidad (House Building 3)

If you missed the other parts you can catch up on

How this whole thing started
Building the dock on the canal for Sea42
Building the House Part 1 and finding the property
Building the House Part 2

So far everything had gone to plan. The building team varied from 12-18 people and they worked from 8-5 every day except Sunday. They cleaned up every day and did a big cleanup on Saturday. Nothing was too much effort and they made lots of changes for me when I asked. So far so good.

The forms are laid out on the second floor and roof level. You can get an idea of the view we will have from our roof patio.

The rebar is then laid over the forms in preparation for the concrete.

Lots of steel rebar all tied together.

Light fittings and conduit for wires are added

The roof is poured in a single day

A well organized team keeps a steady flow of concrete to the roof

Its inspiring to watch them work

Once the concrete is dry, work continues on the stairwell that gives access to the roof.

Meanwhile, the walls are beginning to look smooth after layer #3 of 4 is applied

The stairs to the master bedroom balcony take shape.

The double story pillars that will hold up the palapa are completed

Sometimes I have to look away when I see them work. No accidents so far, fingers crossed.

Well, thats about all for 2011, I am spending Xmas at home in California with my family and then we are all fllying down to Mexico for the New Year. We will stay on the boat and use the time to get some details about the finishes sorted out. Should have plenty of time to just enjoy some time in the sun as well.

Barra de Navidad (House Building 2)

If you missed the other parts you can catch up on

How this whole thing started
Building the dock on the canal for Sea42
Building the House Part 1 and finding the property

Now that we had the land title in our name and the dock for the boat sorted out, we turned our attention to building our winter home.

The local architect/builder Alejandro Lazareno was recommended to me by Pepe Padilla, the realtor we used. He knows the area very well and used to be the mayor of the neighboring town Melaque. He had built many of the homes I liked in the area and this gave me the opportunity to talk to other home owners about their experiences. He builds a mixture of traditional mexican features with modern lines using lots of curved walls where other architects prefered more boxy designs.

We worked with him ofr many months, visiting other homes and choosing materials. There are a lot of items in a new house if you start from scratch!
There are many horror stories about building in Mexico, mainly they involve the builder running out of money as builders tend to underbid jobs in order to get work. Having a solid contract and ensuring the builder has considered all aspects/costs are vital. The builder I chose had completed over 50 homes, my 2 direct neighbors houses had been built by him and they were very happy. I felt I stood a good chance of getting what I wanted.
Completing the building contract took over 6 months as we had to wait for our title from Bancomer (Mexican Bank) and also because it took that long to design the house we wanted and to get the contract details correct. We first spoke with the Architect in February, by September that year we were ready to sign the contract and wire the deposit. Luckily the exchange rate moved in our favor in September as the US economy crashed, so we are glad it took so long. I just checked our gmail log for emails to our architect and counted 178 messages!

Breaking ground for our new house. Alejandro (our architect on left) discusses details with the main contractor. Sea42 is tied up at our newly completed dock in the background. October 2011.

As this is an earthquake zone (like San Francisco) I had specified a large foundation built on piers sunk into the ground.
We had all our plans checked by a structural engineer. Ill let you know how it works out after our first big quake. To add to the excitement of starting the house, hurricane Jova hit Barra de Navida directly 2 days after the photo above was taken. (the hurricane season in central Pacific Mexico runs Jul-Oct). It caused damage in the nearby towns and to some beach front properties in Barra. Our boat was spared as its really protected in the canals. I even got an insurance waiver to keep the boat in Barra during the hurricane season.

Damaged property on the sea front in Barra from hurricane Jova waves. No damage in the canals luckily.

 

Ground floor plans. dock/canal and pool on the left

First floor plans. Large round area is an outdoor palapa.

The nearly completed foundation. All this part is underground.

Looking from the street at the front

The foundations are sealed and filled with sharp sand

A dump truck fills in the palapa area. The drivers son supervises

Once the sand is tamped down, plastic barrier sheeting is placed with steel rebar in preparation for the concrete floor. PVC piping for the bathroom is laid out

The foundations are nearly complete. The orange conduit is for electrical wiring.

Ready to start first floor walls

Mixing concrete for the foundations

The first floor begins to take shape. On the right is the garage. TV room in the center. Kitchen at back.

Ingenious method to hold the pillar forms in place.

Cardboard tubes are placed over the steel rebar before they are filled with concrete. These will be the pillars that hold up the palapa.

The kitchen wall. A reinforced concrete lintel runs around the entire floor to provide support for doors and windows.

Looking through the hallway out the front door.

The forms are in place to pour the first floor.

Palapa and balcony pillars in place

Master bedroom balcony forms

The forms are ready on the first floor ready to add the steel mesh

The opening for the spiral staircase

Tying the rebar mesh together. Note the conduit to the light fittings.

All the wiring and piping in place before the floor is poured

First floor complete

Concrete is dry, so start on the 2nd floor walls

Very few machines, everything is done by hand and using locally available materials

I fly down in late November to check on the progress. There are already 4 yachts anchored in the lagoon.

Front of house. Office above garage on left. Kids bedrooms above kitchen on right

View of boat/canal from master bedroom shower.

Hallway to entrance. Kitchen on left

Spiral staircase from hallway. Entrance to garage on right.

Upstairs office/guest bedroom and balcony

2 tons of blocks and a 55 gallon drum full of water on the upstairs floor 10 days after it was poured. I'm not worried about it being strong enough now.

The palapa area and the master bedroom balcony take shape

Overlooking the marina from the master bedroom balcony

My neighbor dropped by after he caught this 100lb yellowfin tuna. He spared me a slice for dinner.

Checking the Jeep will fit in the garage. Should be enough length to fit 2 cars or the Jeep and a small boat.

A thin concrete coat is rendered on the walls. 4 coats will be applied in total. The final finish will be smooth and flat.

The 2nd floor walls in our master bedroom are almost complete.

The roof is nearly ready to pour. All in under 3 months.

The lower walls after 2 of 4 coats of concrete.

    Continued ......