Category Archives: Remodeling and Renovating

The Pozo is Poured

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Digging the hole for the pozo was by far the most time consuming task of the small cabin septic tank for various reasons including that the soil was mostly rock after about 2 feet down and also that they dug with just a pickaxe, shovel and ice breaking bar. So after about 4-5 days of digging they were finally able to move on to the next steps in building the tank.

Pulling the wheel barrow

Once it was dug, they needed to make footers for the bottom. In order to do this, the wheelbarrow method of hauling concrete was once again employed.

Bringing over wheel barrowLots of grunt work!

Setting blocks
Setting the footer

Next was to bring over all the cinder blocks and then start to build what we called our “castle.” The castle that holds poo.

Blocks set
First line around

Pouring concrete
More hauling and dumping

Castle of pozo
The castle and the cabin

And the final step was to do the top of the tank. This will also serve as a landing for the stairway up to the deck of the house.

Form for the pozo
Forms ready!

First they made the molds/forms for the concrete. Then yet again more mixing and hauling of concrete by hand through the jungle and then finally, they smoothed it out.

Pozo and house
Nice and smooth -the small hole will be used to take out the wooden forms once it cures and a cover will be made

We are enjoying this space on the other side of the property more and more as we can start to see our vision manifest into reality. A building project of even this size is not for the faint of heart. This takes quite the commitment, especially the way we have gone about it (aka the hard way) and there have been a few nights of tossing and turning, mulling over our decisions. We are constantly checking and rechecking and trying to avoid or correct mistakes (there will ALWAYS be mistakes), but it’s on days like these when we see big progress toward our goals, we know we are on the right track. After all, the challenge is part of the reason we moved here in the first place! It’s just hard to always keep that in the forefront of our minds.

Turkey in the cabin
Silly turkeys playing in the cabin!

The project will be slowing down for a few weeks, but the next step is in the other direction: the roof!

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Cabana Shower Tile Project

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When the wood house take-down finished, two of the guys who helped in that project were interested in continuing with anything else we could give them by way of work. Well, around here there is always work, so we started talking about some projects we could put them on before we start the big ones (the cabin on the other side and the bridge).

So we tried to think of things we either didn’t have the skills or motivation to tackle. We had them finish up a few things like plastering the new electric pedestal, taking out some of the fencing and general clean-up. Then I thought of one that is a bit of a luxury item, but something I have wanted since we moved in: Tile for the cabana shower stall! When we first moved in we painted it, but it was difficult to keep clean, the paint kept peeling up and it had little pink tile flooring.

Shower before
Before

So our team of Jorge and Waldemar (and us as needed) were happy to do it. The hardest part was removing the paint from the walls before mortaring. Paint is considered a bond breaker, so while it was a messy part of the job, it was necessary.

Shower During
During/prep and paint removal

These guys did a great job and went above and beyond working longer than they had planned so that we would be able to shower soon. We only have one bathroom and it is extremely tiny so it was a challenge having all of us in there checking it out at various times. It’s always tough living in a construction zone let alone one without any bathrooms (since the bathroom is the work zone)! But we all got through it just fine.

Jorge y Waldemar
Jorge and Waldemar finishing up

Well, the tile, mortar and grout finished setting up and we were finally able to take a shower in there after 3 days and it was soo nice!

Shower done 1
After

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Are We Hillbillies or What?

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We are nearing the very end of the house demolition project. However, now that the house is basically just pieces of wood on the ground, everything else about our life is totally disordered. That’s what happens when you live “on-site,” I suppose.

Working in Paradise

Thursday was the craziest with activity and lots of hammer drilling from about 7am to 7pm, so Friday we needed a break (and I think the workers did too)!

But it wasn’t a true break, because I still needed to get laundry done amidst all the chaos that was left behind. I was getting a bit snippy with Britton about my “less than ideal” ability to wash and hang laundry and he stopped me in my tracks and said, “Wait, I need to get a photo of this.” Yep, it is pretty hilarious. And a good reminder to not take things too seriously. Everything will get sorted out….eventually! And if we turn into hillbillies in the process, so be it!

Crazy laundry and turkeys
Crazy acres is the life for me! 🙂

The cool thing about living amidst all the construction progress is that you get to know everyone pretty well. Well enough that when the guys heard that I had never had “pitorro” (which they pronounced pitojo), the next day they brought a bottle of it for us and a bottle for them and we all took shots (a very small one for me) from the same metal cup and said “salud!” Pitorro is like Puerto Rican moonshine and everyone has a different recipe for it. This one tasted pretty good and sweet and was made with tamarind and parcha juice, but it did pack a punch. An only in Puerto Rico experience for sure.

PitorroYou can’t be a true hillbilly until you’re drinking the local moonshine, right? 🙂

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House is Nearly Gone and New Electric Project

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Life has been pretty hectic around here lately. We are used to a pretty mellow and peaceful pace, but lately we have had crews of people in and around the property from sun up until sometimes past dark. While Britton and I are not doing very much of the labor ourselves (a major difference as well!), it is still pretty chaotic and stressful to have everything around you totally disrupted and noisy. Still,  things must get messy before they get pretty; it is how progress gets made after all. And we are very thankful for all the help we have had in moving towards these goals.

Missing house
Not much left!

The house is nearly gone. They are down to just the very last few beams and posts and a little clean up work. We plan to keep the lower shed room as a storage space and laundry room for the time being, but otherwise, everything will be gone super soon. It is so weird how much it is already transforming this space.

Ugly old electric line

The next thing we had to consider was the electrical line that runs from the wood house to our cabana. If we were to leave it, it would just be a pole sticking up connected to the street pole that traversed from the house through a tube under ground to the cabana. In order to take down the rest of the house, we need to remove it as well and have an electrical pedestal installed that connects directly to the cabana. We talked with an electrician who happens to be the father of one of the workers and he said he would be able to fix it. So in addition to our house demolition team hammering and tossing boards, we also had the electrical team digging trenches and sawing into our little concrete cabana. Talk about chaos!

Drilling into the house
Dust flying as the house was being sawed to the breaker box

The pedestal will be installed near the gate and will be very close to the road electrical line thereby removing the line that shoots downward where the house once stood.

work site and Pedestal from the road

After the house is down, the wood is stacked and protected from the rain, the shed is finished and the electrical system is rigged up, I think Britton and I are ready for a bit of a Christmas break! Whew!

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