More building boveda

I find this process endlessly interesting. The jig is placed, bricks are spaced with spacers (which also act as forms for the mortar). The gaps are filled, and they move on to the next row. Another guy follows behind after the mortar has set up a bit, and uses a special tool to scrape excess mortar from the joints to make it look perfect. It's fussy work.

 

 Tacho lays the brick, and his assistant works a few courses behind cleaning the joints before the mortar sets up.

 

Worker starts a new course.

 

Worker follows behind the bricklayer, scraping the joints. There are 3 different bricklaying teams, supported by 3 other workers bringing bricks and mortar

More boveda and a re engineering challenge

One of the great learning experiences of this project is appreciating how much steel and concrete, and therefore weight, that goes into construction. That means that ceiling beam placement has to occur for any structure above. But of course, those need to be spaced properly in order to create a beautiful season.

We're having to re engineer our 3rd floor structure (bathroom and utility room) in order to ensure that the second floor ceiling both looks and works in a good way. If you're ever designing a building using these building techniques, it's important to think in 3 dimensions.

 

The beefier beam in the middle is on the left side of the 40cm pillar in order to support the wall on the third floor. But it creates an asymmetrical ceiling. We want to move to the right side, which will shift the beam to the left to line up with the centre of the hallway. This means that the wall above must move as well in order to remain structurally sound.

 

Building boveda

Ok, I have lots of pics and video of boveda being built, but not much bandwidth. High res versions of all of this stuff will arrive eventually, but for now here's a teaser of Tacho and his helper building the ceiling over the front deck area.

2nd floor ceiling taking shape and 2nd floor bedroom

The meticulous detail of building the boveda ceiling on the second floor has begun. It's an interesting process (more pics and video coming!). For now, here is a look at some of the completed sections, especially the 2nd floor bedroom.

Rear garden area shot for Mike. A worker preps and loads bricks from here up the stairs to where the ceiling construction is happening.

The beams that support the boveda arches. This shot is in the 2nd floor outdoor kitchen area.

Beams again pointing into the living area. The one furthest right is beefier- that line on the large post carries the load in the centre of the building. While it is taller, the additional height is buried into the floor pack above, so it appears like the other beams (although marginally wider).

2nd floor kitchen area. You really get a sense of how much steel is in a building like this. Another worker carries posts to support formwork.

Here's a completed portion of boveda ceiling. Later, the steel beams which are primed can be painted.

Looking out second floor bedroom 1 towards stairwell and into the street. The electrical will be cut in in this room tomorrow.

Same bedroom, looking at bathroom slider door and hallway door. The bathroom hallway door is also visible.

Another shot of the same space. On this wall will be a closet. There will be a bulkhead above the   closet that circles   the perimeter of all rooms.

front stairs, beams, and other fun stuff

It's been great being in town watching the build. Have I mentioned the mangos yet? They're everywhere. I've never been here in late May/early June, which is mango season. It seems like every other tree is a mango, and all are producing lots of fruit. So much that it's almost a hazard underfoot. And nobody told me that there were something like 20 species of mango, each with their own character. Apparently, most don't travel well, which is why we don't see them in Canada. I had no idea. I don't know how many mangos is too many, but I haven't got sick of them yet. It's all mango, all the time.

Anyways... Onto the build update.

Meet our build team, having a break in the shade in the afternoon under a mango tree. A good group of guys that work hard.

Ever wonder how concrete stairs are built? It begins with the platform forms. Then the horizontal rebar is drilled into the wall and installed, about one per stair. Then a foot is poured on the first step, and the running rebar is cemented in. These are the ones you see sticking up. After they've set, they're bent into the stair and tied into the other rebar in preparation for pouring.

horizontal bars are anchored at the bottom of the staircase, soon to be bent into and tied into the other rebar.

Formwork for the next part of the stair is being set up.

Stairs as viewed from the second floor

Arch that was created improperly is complete and is set up

Arches under construction on the second floor balcony

Tacho creates the form for the arch that he's building out of bricks and mortar. He'll build this form which will support the bricks as they dry.

Main span beam being installed at the rear of the house. That these guys strong-arm these beams up into position is pretty amazing. This is the last main structural beam before boveda ceiling construction on the second floor starts

Video tour of the build

I had a chance to do a walkthrough of the build while the workers were on lunch today. It's a more complete view of whats being built, along with the neighbourhood around us. There are 3 parts. Because I am in a part of Lo D that has poor internet, it will be a while before the other two parts are uploaded.

Part 1, the house as seen from the street

Part 2, the main floor

Finally onsite to check out the build

So my dad and I got into town yesterday. It's my first look at the build in person, which was exciting. It was great to walk through a space that I have imagined in my mind for so long. It feels like everything is sized and scaled really well, which I attribute to having some great design help.

This set of pictures captures some of the build detail, as well as hopefully capturing what the views might look like.

Second floor looking north over the schoolyard

Second floor looking west into Juan's yard

second floor looking east over 'Chicago House'

Third floor looking west to the ocean

Third floor looking northwest towards the ocean

Third floor looking north towards north hill

third floor looking east towards Chicago house and the mountains

third floor looking east towards the mountains

third floor looking northwest towards the ocean

Third floor looking north over the second floor and towards the schoolyard

third floor looking north over the street. Say hi to our builder, Jésus!

Third floor looking southwest towards the ocean. This area will have one of the best views, but I'm too chicken to walk the beams to the building corner to take a pic.

view of the property from the northeast corner of the lot

One of the best parts of being here in May is that the mangos are ready. This mango tree that hangs into our lot is postively lousy with the tasty little buggers. Lunchtime!

View from inside the first floor kitchen, out past the outside kitchen

View from the street. The basket-handle arch on the second floor stairwell window will be changed to the same point-arch as the openings on the first floor.

First floor kitchen area looking east

first floor kitchen area looking east

looking up the rear stairs to the second floor and the second floor terrace.

second floor structure taking shape

Things are coming along, although communicating from a distance about change details has proven to be challenging, even in this internet age. We'll be back onsite (and hopefully, back on track) when we fly back down next week. In the meantime, here are some progress pictures.

second floor structure continues

The building of the second floor marches on. The walls are now taking shape.

second floor kitchen/living room, looking south towards the front of the building

2nd floor walls taking shape

structure viewed from the east side