sometimes things go wrong, and the first floor takes shape to the 2.6m beam

I guess if you're gonna do a fair description of the build process, you got to talk a bit about what happens off the site. Getting the land, land use, permits, and so on in place has been an exercise in administrative frustration. I thought that was painful in Canada when I've built things- try doing it in a different language, with different assumptions, different rules, and a bureaucracy that seems intent on making foreigners jump through hoops that locals never would. Hint for all of you would-be builders-in-Mexico out there- Strongly consider having a Mexican face to the property, both in action and on paper. You'll likely save yourself time, grief, and money. But what was that they said about Ginger Rogers? That she could do everything Fred Astaire did, just backwards and in high heels? That's what this feels like.

We recently found out we actually overbuilt on the foundation- it wasn't clear from our original plans that this was only a 2 story building with a patio kitchen/bathroom/storage on the 3rd. The drawings make it look like the 3rd floor is fleshed out a bit more. As a consequence, we ended up with a foundation suitable for a 4th floor. Costly, but I suppose it's not a horrible thing to be able to add another floor and a rooftop bungalow down the road.

I did promise to post some plan pictures for the folks interested in that. They're coming, I promise. This blog platform doesn't play well with PDFs so I have some farting around to do with those.

Onto the build

So in castillo style construction, the blocks get filled to the height above the lintel, where a horizontal beam is poured around the entire building perimeter and inside walls. This is because there is a structural limit on the blocks themselves, which only serve to fill the holes between the beams.

Front bedrooms and hallway looking westward at the neighbour. backfill has begun on the east bedroom, from where the pic was taken

Is this construction steel-intensive? Hell yeah. But it's also designed to be able to add another floor beyond what we're planning, be highly earthquake resistant, and is far beefier than most buildings of it's size. Built to last is the goal.

Front 'window' into the stairwell area, made of celocia (trans: lattice, but we use it for breeze block as well). This block design will mimic the pattern of the balcony railings. Thanks for picking these out, Rob! Your timing was perfect.

The vertical columns (castillos) have been poured to the 2.6m height, now its time for the horizontal beam. The forms are in place.

View down the east side of the lot. Lots of brick being stockpiled.