The Plot thickens, or the plot thins

[bill_bly_ca]

Just got off the phone with BIL - The guys are there establishing level of the ground inside.

It looks like about 2 to 3 m^2 of fill is needed. He showed all of the pipe that is ready to be ran as well.

The fill is just across the street and will probably be brought by horse cart.

It looks like the guys are working through Saturday

[KeyWestPirate]

They got a police permission. supposedly it is not enough juice to kill you, just enough to knock you off your feet. I guess you die when you hit the sidewalk. All's well that ends well.

I think , like with everyone thing else,, the value is in the deterrent.
Most thieves are pretty lazy.
If your place is well protected,, they will rob the guy next door instead.

Which, is about the best you can hope for.

[bill_bly_ca]

BIL was sent pictures from what the guys are working on in Casarse in parallel.

I would feel uncomfortable in that set up even IF I could afford it, which I could not

[bill_bly_ca]

Just fuzzy, dark, pix of the trenches and pipes.

They got the gluing don Saturday aft. A pretty crafty clean out was made with a 4" Tee just outside the outside wall. It will need to be boxed.

They start to "throw" cement on Wed after they do a bit more tamping.

One neat thing is they ran water in to the sink locations which was nice. We did not ask for that in the drawing.

[el duende grande]

Today we finished putting up the verjas for last years expansión. Feels good. I just loves the look of maya expandida in the morning and the damn cat can't scratch the window screen and come inside.

MiniSinsa just got in some motion detector lites. Next comes in an electrician to install them and some other
lites. Got a hankering to hang some emergency lights, the ones than only come on during a power outage.

I thot the hardware stores would go into a post xmas drought but no, they are packed to the roof with merchandise. It is like we are back in 2017 with the economy spiraling upward.

Sealed up the front gate so nobody can see thru it. More privacy and we are going to add regular front entrance door knobs instead of the exting welded Phillips lock, plus a motion detector light and an alarm when we get to it.

It just don't get no better than this.

[KeyWestPirate]

Today we finished putting up the verjas for last years expansión. Feels good. I just loves the look of maya expandida in the morning and the damn cat can't scratch the window screen and come inside.

MiniSinsa just got in some motion detector lites. Next comes in an electrician to install them and some other
lites. Got a hankering to hang some emergency lights, the ones than only come on during a power outage.

I thot the hardware stores would go into a post xmas drought but no, they are packed to the roof with merchandise. It is like we are back in 2017 with the economy spiraling upward.

Sealed up the front gate so nobody can see thru it. More privacy and we are going to add regular front entrance door knobs instead of the exting welded Phillips lock, plus a motion detector light and an alarm when we get to it.

It just don't get no better than this.

The SINSA in Masaya has infinitely more stuff

It would be nice to find a solar powered motion detector that included light and some alarm sound

We just leave lights on. It's amazing how much light you can get for a few cents with the LED bulbs. My large yard light up on the tower is just 33 watts, and the other smaller lights are only 13 watts. Most of the Harbor Freight alarms I've reworked with wall wart power supplies.

Price has gone way up,, $12 or 15,, can't remember, and I don't see them on special anymore.
I need to come up with some solution to turn them off during the day.

[el duende grande]

My night lites are on my own system with an electric eye I brought down from civilization. it goes in a regular 2 x4 box and then conduits go wherever I want with whatever light I want. About 15 bucks at a home depot or whatever. the newer ones are rated for dimmer bulbs and crap but I keep it simple and only use standard led which have become cheap and easy to find at maxipali. Cheap ass sinsa light fixtures work but the gaskets don't last long so you become the king of silicon. If you get the ones with 3 little crews to hold the glass on grease them because the screws rust instantly. A7lso, indigenous personnel cannot handle the 3 little screws, do it yourself.

One advantage to an electric eye is you position it in a good morning or afternoon location, not where the bulb is. Plus the "neighbors" think it is a camera. jejeje

[bill_bly_ca]

So the first floor has been cemented.

Floor (Youtube)

They actually finished with 5 left over bags of cement and a large amount of adrena - So paid $20 to move the aggregate to the back yard for future.

[bill_bly_ca]

So they took 4 of the 5 left over bags and started to finish coat the wal that will be _eventually_ covered by a neigbour - Is that 1 yrs away? Is thet 10 yrs away? To that end we decided to finish coat that wall for paint.

THe other 3 walls will get the plaster cement coat like the 2nd floor so it can get a good painting.

Swapping over to the plot on Manitoulin - It looks like the Balloon over Lake Huron flew right over our plot on Manitoulin - Well close, not sure if it was right over - Wonder what they think I was doing that was worth a look - Probably just counting Moose, Bear and Beaver

[bill_bly_ca]

The update

[bill_bly_ca]

We did get to Oriental last week for quotes on doors - C$1000 and up.

Busty girl, arched back with high heeled shoes caught my eye - Over ruled

Also looked at tile - Most was 2 to 5K US for just the tile, set and grout - Labour on top

Chilo spied some similar tile in Masaya for, what the fellow said, was 370 cord per m^2 - I walked straight buy as Chilo asked which certainly must have helped - Written quote will be asked for tomorrow with BIL - Each floor is 100m^2

We thought tile was out of budget this trip but at 370 cord per m^2 with sundries and labour it just may fit for tiling the 2nd floor .

[bill_bly_ca]

Me blathering on about the 2nd floor.

Back and forth on any additional major work this trip. Need to pay down what we borrowed to get this far first I think. Maybe just cement the sidewalk outside so the mud does not stane the finish coat on the street side and some interior bits.

Anyways...

[bill_bly_ca]

And the guys started plastering today

[el duende grande]

Welcome to the club. My experience was that my bank account shrank faster than my pile of receipts grew. There are a lot of what I came to call "soft costs" that don't end up in the end product. Mileage to the site 6 days a week for months, coffee or whatever for the crew (wife's option), restaurant meals, nightwatchman, etc. Normall these costs would be the contractor's expenses, but when you contract it yourself they are all yours.

We did pvc ceiling in one room. Sounds good, water and termite proof but no access for cleaning, looking for dead rats, reworking electrical, etc. The rest of the house we did in suspended ceiling 2' x 2' gypsum tiles. The stuff we chose is fairling heavy--plastic embossed bottom, gypsum core, heavy aluminum foil top. This year we payed somebody to take down and clean all the tiles. In this climate in the dry season the wind deposits very fine dust full of mold spores, etc all over and then when the rainy season comes it start mold. It is nice to have access.

[bill_bly_ca]

Roger on the soft costs - two bits of wood here - 5 extra bags of cement there - Nails, Cut off disks etc etc.

Last crew we bought cola, brewed coffee, pico et al - This job BIL said give them a hand shake, pat on the back, and C$200 at the end of the job(s) and it will be good.

Points on the ceiling understood - We may just try our bed room initially and then try the rest after a year. The budget is tapped this trip _and_ BIL (Who has been sub contractor and cuidor) is heading back for May to late in the Canadian summer - So this may be all we (save for the odd jobs mentioned) until Sept.

We were toying with tile, but why pay up front for tile that will be idle until until we come next (Most likely Oct)

Also people at work are really wanting me to come back - Kinda feels nice to be wanted - I bet next trip I will work (remote) 4 days a week for 7 or 8 weeks, but the house will be made livable in that time scale.

There is a snow storm with thunder and lightning happening tonight in the home town - Kinda sorry I am missing never seen such a non-humans dicking with the environment event in my life

But still 3 weeks less a day left in the glorious revolution.

[KeyWestPirate]

111111

Roger on the soft costs - two bits of wood here - 5 extra bags of cement there - Nails, Cut off disks etc etc.

Last crew we bought cola, brewed coffee, pico et al - This job BIL said give them a hand shake, pat on the back, and C$200 at the end of the job(s) and it will be good.

Points on the ceiling understood - We may just try our bed room initially and then try the rest after a year. The budget is tapped this trip _and_ BIL (Who has been sub contractor and cuidor) is heading back for May to late in the Canadian summer - So this may be all we (save for the odd jobs mentioned) until Sept.





We were toying with tile, but why pay up front for tile that will be idle until until we come next (Most likely Oct)





Shelley feeds everyone lunch,, she likes to cook, and we bake bread daily (we use a machine to mix it, pull it out and raise it and bake it. More control).

The food comes to a bit,, and I don't begrudge the workers a good meal,, but it does cost a lot of time.

My experience has been a mix of bid jobs,, and per day. Labor where we are remains affordable.


This summer we are going to make a push to finally finish the house. We have an extension to frame and enclose,, then mostly drywall inside and stucco outside
I would really like to push out the bathroom, and if I can match the tile,, I probably will.

That would cost a fortune in the US,, but read above : Labor where we are remains affordable.

We are going to insulate the walls with that foil sandwich on a roll, easy to work with and you don't need much to make a big difference.We used that in the ceiling, and it made a huge difference in the comfort level.


If I completely finish the house, Shelley has promised that I can move on with another project (provided I can fund it myself):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEHhbHsfY7A

There are a thousand variations on this theme, and as many school buses sitting around looking for a new home.











Also people at work are really wanting me to come back - Kinda feels nice to be wanted - I bet next trip I will work (remote) 4 days a week for 7 or 8 weeks, but the house will be made livable in that time scale.

There is a snow storm with thunder and lightning happening tonight in the home town - Kinda sorry I am missing never seen such a non-humans dicking with the environment event in my life

But still 3 weeks less a day left in the glorious revolution.

[bill_bly_ca]

I am surprised, but not really surprised, on Paint.

We plan to do the outside in Oil and the inside in Latex - Sealers, primers, finish coats are ranging in the 6 to 7K US ball park on first pass.

There are heat reflective sealer which seems to be the biggest expense on the outside walls and then coloured latex for the interior seems to be the cheapest. Interior primer/sealer seems to be more pricy than the actual coloured paint.

Chilo did pick out the coulr Chits and we have tried a few local shops with wild pricing. Probably when it comes time to buy we will get better pricing with just Daniel going around and asking for pricing. It could also be that we focused on places with computer based colour matching. I have had off results with manual pigment mixing in the past and hope to avoid that.

Painting _may_ be even pricier than tiling

[bill_bly_ca]

Doh - Actually sat down and did the math again - That is only 3K for paint - Not sure how it doubled - Maybe getting too accustomed to being hosed.

Yesterdays video finally rendered after sitting almost 5 hours chugging after reload

[el duende grande]

The kids did their house up with the white coating inside. I forget what it is called. Expensive but elegant looking and thouroughly covers the cement before the final coat. Painting is defineately a budget item. I am old school--put the cheapest paint possible on the new cement and then do the next coat with the $30+ per gallon paint. The real challenge is eyeballing the surface and supervising the prep work to end up with a smooth surface. And this starts with the masons--make them clean up their own boogers to lessen the prep work.

[bill_bly_ca]

Just got back from a Butt break (The chairs truly blow chunks at both my BIL and SILs houses) Buddy is triming up the air vents now

Damn does the air flow through these - Need to make louvers eventually - But the air pumps fantastically

Gattito is doing a literal hatchet job on the posts as he marks it up for plaster.

[bill_bly_ca]

Cobbling another video ...

The hole is done for the b-fest nook - Plaster is down the other last 4 walls - Kitchen inside and out and two outside walls.

Back of the napkin calculation puts us at $42 K now - I am guessing $21 to $23K to finish-finish, and probably $11 to $12K to make it livable/secure. (Tile, doors, shitters, sinks, stairs)

Will go over the paunch list with BIL for the month and a week left before he comes back up north to work for 3 to 4 months

[KeyWestPirate]

" ..Back of the napkin calculation puts us at $42 K now - I am guessing $21 to $23K to finish-finish, and probably $11 to $12K to make it livable/secure. (Tile, doors, shitters, sinks, stairs) .."




Is that the total nut?
You should get into the contracting business.

[bill_bly_ca]

Is that the total nut?
You should get into the contracting business.

Well how do you think these contractors drive the slick new Hilux?

My guess is that the lots across the street cost them 20K max to build - Those 80m to 100m cookie cutters. They sell at 45 to 55K.

Now I do shower 3 times a day here so I could build in SJDS

We hope to put in the 12 to 15K early this fall so we can stay in it Oct / Nov 23 and Jan Feb 24 Just needs Tile, Doors, stairs, Shitters, and showers

[bill_bly_ca]

Here it is - The guys will reroute the conduit preserving the original $140 labour - Of course I will need to buy more cement and plaster and conduit tubing.