The Plot thickens, or the plot thins

[bill_bly_ca]

Cement, rebar, nails, ties etc etc is a hair under $400 - So a little better than budget (of $1200) at $1100

People were telling Chilo, it is too big...

I said better stuck with it, than stuck for it..

Then Block vendor said they knew someone who could do it as well. He ran over and proceeded to quote 500 cord more to dig one 1/2 as big.

Chilo still looked a little apprehensive to which I put my hands on her sholders and said "With this size we can flush TP"

All is good now.. :-)

[cookshow]

Cement, rebar, nails, ties etc etc is a hair under $400 - So a little better than budget (of $1200) at $1100

People were telling Chilo, it is too big...

One thing you will never run short of here is "People" saying you are doing "It" ("It", is anything you do) wrong. Most the time these "People" spend their days occupying their porches. These "People" never do "It" wrong, to be honest they never do any wrong, because they do nothing, except sit on porch, and let's be honest, it is hard to screw that up.

The one aspect of life here that I will never get used to, the constant unsolicited advice from "experts" who know nothing.

[Jonh]

The world is full of those experts.

I love the sales pitch - "Flushes toilet paper!" Sold!

[el duende grande]

They sell plastic septic tanks, too. I have no idea of the sizing, my last adventure in septics was a 750 gal talk code requirement in CA for a 3 br house.
With a leach line which I think they don't do here. One advantage of concrete septics is they crack and the liquid goes to ground so you don't have to worry about it.

incidently, 1/4 inch usually applied to hierro liso, not rebar. If it is rebar it is a very whimpy size.

As far as comments from the local peanut gallery, my favorite is "I told you so, but I didn't really tell you so because you don't like my comments"

[bill_bly_ca]

incidently, 1/4 inch usually applied to hierro liso, not rebar. If it is rebar it is a very whimpy size.

Yes list was 10- Baria de Ieso 1/4" which I Bill-oolgl translated to 1/4" rebar. 35 cord each.

[bill_bly_ca]

One thing that has been consistent is the endless solicitation to use this that or the other electrician.

Well Nuck that Foise...

This will be my job :-)

I am humming and hawing whether to send down Romex (I have a 30M roll lying around) or whether to just send down a good 300M of 14awg Green. I am leaning to the 14AWG green and just have the hired help pull it with a pair of White and black. Mind you I do not see a lot of black in installs here seeming to be mostly Red.

TBut anyways - he entire place will be wired with a right proper single ground - Single point ground to what is still TBD, but it will be a start.

[bill_bly_ca]

Here is a cool roof sheeting available at Feromax. It is a corrogated zink, but with flat tops and troughs.

It is also sold in "Your measurement here" sheets so you can avoid joints from the standard zink sheets.

The insert photo does not seem to work with Google share at the moment so I tossed in a link.. I'll do the same with the shopping list below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zAuhcaRcAIbGnyru1

[bill_bly_ca]

This was aound 11:30 - They hope to get 6' dug today, and the rest tomorrow - It will be 4 Varas deep. by their measure / quote

[Jonh]

Did they bring a vara tape to measure with?

[bill_bly_ca]

If I overheard correctly the Peg is some segment of Vara - But we are building 18 or so inches over grade - If they are a 8 to 10" short I care not...

[KeyWestPirate]

Cement, rebar, nails, ties etc etc is a hair under $400 - So a little better than budget (of $1200) at $1100

People were telling Chilo, it is too big...

I said better stuck with it, than stuck for it..

Then Block vendor said they knew someone who could do it as well. He ran over and proceeded to quote 500 cord more to dig one 1/2 as big.

Chilo still looked a little apprehensive to which I put my hands on her sholders and said "With this size we can flush TP"

All is good now.. :-)

Septic tanks in Nicaragua

My two cents:

The bigger the better.

I have a monster which takes a four inch pipe (really,, the sanitario available in Nicaragua makes 4" easily affordable).
We feed it with a dishwasher and washing machine and two toilets. We flush TP without issue.

We've flushed some other things as well (until I had a chat with Krisnia).
I used 4 inch for all the waste plumbing and 2" for all the water drainage.

Never a problem,, never any odor, anywhere.
The line should be vented above the roof line but I never got around to doing it.
But,,, the outlet to the (non-existent) leach line is stuffed with some burlap bags so any gas generated in the tank is probably escaping there.
I have traps everywhere there should be a trap.

I WAS going to put in a leach line but the septic tank sits close to the edge of a dropoff, and the the floor cracked during installation.
Not exactly code, but far enough below the grade that it doesn't concern me.
This would not work well if you were in an area with a high water table.

The bottom of our septic tank wound up about 20 feet below grade (wasn't planned that way, but the concept of septic tank was unknown at the time. My Spanish is better now too).
The house is five feet above grade on a steel framework. So we have a nice drop for the sewer pipe


In the five years that it's been there the contents level has never risen to the outlet pipe.
It's a two chamber unit, so the solid stays and settles on the intake side.
Poop is 94% water --- the math is on your side.

Toilets are not created equally either.
One of our toilets is a Costco buy that I trucked down. The other is a Sinsa bargain.
The Costco definitely flushes faster, the Sinsa might need a second flush if the load is heavy,, but it gets the job done.

Anything works. I had a 55 gal drum with no bottom for a septic tank in Mexico. The drum was buried about 6 feet down at the high tide line.
So the whole Sea of Cortez was my leach line.
I asked LLamas at the time,,, " it's pretty small,, what do we do if it fills up?"
"No problemo, says LLamas, we just bury another drum next to it"
I sold the house before we needed the second drum

[el duende grande]

It is weaker than the same gauge in corrugated. because of the design. OK on walls, especially minifaldas.. The in thing in the last couple years is the red zin that looks like tiles. Make sure you get all you roof stuff like combreras at the same time or at the same place because they are different brands and not compatible.

Just had Ferromax chop us some roof yesterday for our new kitchen. The roof is not visible from anywhere so we went with aluminized zin. Its prettier and coloer than zin zin.
.

Here is a cool roof sheeting available at Feromax. It is a corrogated zink, but with flat tops and troughs.


It is also sold in "Your measurement here" sheets so you can avoid joints from the standard zink sheets.

The insert photo does not seem to work with Google share at the moment so I tossed in a link.. I'll do the same with the shopping list below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zAuhcaRcAIbGnyru1

[el duende grande]

Ok, but if you flush your tp what do you use as starter for your recreational trash burning?
If your septic has not reached the outflow level, it has a leak. It is supposed to be full all the time. Not to worry.

I had a neighbor in the high desert who had a 3 55 gal barrel septic system. When one filled up he just moved the pipe to the next one.


speaking of Sinsa and crap, I would really like to nominate Sinsa Esteli for the 2017 BAD CORPORATE NEIGHBOR AWARD. Not only is their parking lot and warehouse a complete CF, they even screw up the chicken place parking lot, the Panam, and sometimes the 2 adjoining streets.

Septic tanks in Nicaragua

My two cents:

The bigger the better.

I have a monster which takes a four inch pipe (really,, the sanitario available in Nicaragua makes 4" easily affordable).
We feed it with a dishwasher and washing machine and two toilets. We flush TP without issue.

We've flushed some other things as well (until I had a chat with Krisnia).
I used 4 inch for all the waste plumbing and 2" for all the water drainage.

Never a problem,, never any odor, anywhere.
The line should be vented above the roof line but I never got around to doing it.
But,,, the outlet to the (non-existent) leach line is stuffed with some burlap bags so any gas generated in the tank is probably escaping there.
I have traps everywhere there should be a trap.

I WAS going to put in a leach line but the septic tank sits close to the edge of a dropoff, and the the floor cracked during installation.
Not exactly code, but far enough below the grade that it doesn't concern me.
This would not work well if you were in an area with a high water table.

The bottom of our septic tank wound up about 20 feet below grade (wasn't planned that way, but the concept of septic tank was unknown at the time. My Spanish is better now too).
The house is five feet above grade on a steel framework. So we have a nice drop for the sewer pipe


In the five years that it's been there the contents level has never risen to the outlet pipe.
It's a two chamber unit, so the solid stays and settles on the intake side.
Poop is 94% water --- the math is on your side.

Toilets are not created equally either.
One of our toilets is a Costco buy that I trucked down. The other is a Sinsa bargain.
The Costco definitely flushes faster, the Sinsa might need a second flush if the load is heavy,, but it gets the job done.

Anything works. I had a 55 gal drum with no bottom for a septic tank in Mexico. The drum was buried about 6 feet down at the high tide line.
So the whole Sea of Cortez was my leach line.
I asked LLamas at the time,,, " it's pretty small,, what do we do if it fills up?"
"No problemo, says LLamas, we just bury another drum next to it"
I sold the house before we needed the second drum

[el duende grande]

Find a real electrical store, here in Esteli it is Cubas Electricas. You will almost be amazed at what they have, include romex , exterior boxes, and octagonal light boxes for lights. Even their simple stuff like plugs and switches can be found in better quality than Sinsa/ Aguila.

a relative just got 3 electrical bids for his remodel. They varied from 4000 cords to 15000 cords for the same job. We think the key phrase "relative in the States" was a factor.
As far as wire, I am not sold on Nica multifilament which they really push, I use solido.

Alas, my poor little woman was told to buy a few feet of "12 gauge cable". to hook up our street lights. I told her that meant plain ole wire. Cost her to run the gauntlet to get to Cubas Electricas where they sold her plain ole wire. Boy was she surprized. Never listen to the old gringo.
They also sold her some light bulbs that didn't work because Sinsa lost ours. Luckily Disnorte made good on it.

One thing that has been consistent is the endless solicitation to use this that or the other electrician.

Well Nuck that Foise...

This will be my job :-)

I am humming and hawing whether to send down Romex (I have a 30M roll lying around) or whether to just send down a good 300M of 14awg Green. I am leaning to the 14AWG green and just have the hired help pull it with a pair of White and black. Mind you I do not see a lot of black in installs here seeming to be mostly Red.

TBut anyways - he entire place will be wired with a right proper single ground - Single point ground to what is still TBD, but it will be a start.

[bill_bly_ca]

Did not get out there yesterday after light ran out after errands.

There is a wood plank for forms hiccup this AM so have to go and see whats up.

Material bill (Less the forms and PVC pipe) is 8998 cords. Got two cords back in change. :-)

[bill_bly_ca]

Well the hole is dug and the reinforcement stacks (1/4" Baria de Ieso and clips) being cobbled together.





Tomorrow is forming day, Possibly one pour as well for the footing - Walls Monday/Tues.

[Jonh]

Is that really 11 feet deep?

[bill_bly_ca]

Is that really 11 feet deep?

Nah... But I am not complaining - It will last for the time to get the sewer to the street... Nor am I surprised.

I'd say 7 or 6.5 ft..

[el duende grande]

Varas can be a fuzzy concept. A vara is about 9/10ths of a yard. (33.33 inches). Old Spanish term that refuses to die, lie rods in English which has m/l died.
Mostly used in buying lumber or confusing real estate transaction by making property look bigger than it is. Deed with have metros and varas
lumber comes in sizes like 12 x 1 x 5 varas, which means a 14 foot 1 x12.

[cookshow]

And generally "Fuzzy" in some one else's favor.

I am a lowest denominator guy, I don't like arguing after the fact. For something like this I would have measured a piece of string to the length I wanted the hole deep, gave it to the leader, explained how the string works, etc. Would have measured the String with leader at begin and end of digging, little to argue about, tape measure and string have no reason to lie.

Still plenty that could go wrong but saves time in the end arguing about a form of measurement that is questionable at best.

[el duende grande]

the 3/8ths is hierro corrugaodo, the structural element
the 1/4 is hierro liso, which is used to tie the other together.

the tablas--welcome to the wastefull world of nica construction. it is obscene hpw much lumber is destroyed in masonry construction here. Wben with dur care, you will get it back in pieces when they are done. Drill is to have them paint it with diesel, then use it, then you keep the scraps for the next job. Termites and rot are a bear here, but one coat of diesel helps much.

[cookshow]

On this side we use "Black Oil" used motor oil, easy to get due to the amount of boats. Really does help.

[el duende grande]

been there, done that, but messy. Diesel is better.
We have had a bad termite problem in the house. It started with a piece of plywood in a room divider. Ended up yanking the one panel and replacing it with plycem and spot treating a few other spots. Flying termites, hard to track down. Neighbor says we should paint contaminated wood with 2,4, D....No mo plywood for me.

Now any wood anything that is permanent, indoors or out, gets a coating of termite poison before the paint. The brand is terminex or something like that, but there are others.

[bill_bly_ca]

Three more from today..




Anyone know whats up with the winds at the 4 corners? He had them in the drawings but I thouught it was just string points, then when it was dug I was perplexed but did not ask, now with cement cast there I am wondering.

[bill_bly_ca]

Oh yea, and it is obviously open bottom.

====edit====

Now the wings makes sence.

It spreads the weight away from the ever damp center to more firm soil on the perimeter. <shrug>