Poco a poco we are getting through some of these tough spots in the cabin-building.
Scaffolding in the air – or Andamio in Spanish
This week the guys built some pretty high scaffolding for the roofing job as well as finished framing all the walls.
Framing and working with the scaffolding
Turkey boss checking over the work
Everything was moving along really well. They brought over each of the ceiling beams and began to set them into place. Meanwhile, we got all the T1-11 for the underside of the roof/ceiling. The plan, as you may remember, was to just put it up. However, when it arrived, it was clear that it would need something done to it because there was spray paint on it from the lumberyard as well as obvious putty wood filling. This meant we needed to paint it. Britton and I thought it would be best if he and I worked on the painting while the guys finished setting the beams. We worked the whole morning into the early afternoon on these things. But we only got about 9 out of 32 done. The T1-11 is really hard to paint, especially in the grooves.
Painted versus not
This also meant that we had left the guys unattended setting the beams. What could go wrong with that? Well, when Britton went over to check on them, they were nearly done setting them. But they said we were short about 10 boards. What? We knew we had more than enough. Well, sure enough they had set them 16 on center…instead of 24. Oh no! We thought about just leaving them as they were and buying and painting more beams, but this would be a more costly error to allow than to just undo and redo. Man! I swear these beams are going to drive me nuts.
Beams on at 16 inches on center -woops
So we spent the next morning fixing them and it went pretty quickly really but all the pulling of the nails and such left the beams a little less than perfect. Oh well. Moving on.
Roof re-done- starting to look like a house!
We still need to finish painting all the rest of the paneling before we can set them on the roof, so they began bringing over the wall side panels first. We drove them down to the halfway point and they carried them on their back like turtles to the site.
Everything at the site was hand-carried /moved there!
I try and do what I can on this project such as painting, helping find materials, translation/interpreting, mathematics.calculations, drawings, budgeting, design decisions, and of course documenting it, but most of the work and pretty much all of the heavy lifting is done by just these three guys: Britton, Waldemar and Jorge. And even though they may make mistakes (don’t we all!), we are so glad to have their help.
Today my job was housekeeping! Keeping a construction job site tidy is not an easy task!
Sometimes I am called la jefa (the boss lady), and sometimes I am the cleaning lady. We all do what we can and needs to be done
Progress on a big project like this goes in spurts. We have to be flexible and duck and dodge and not be too much of a perfectionist. Overall, things are going really well and I think we are just about to the mid-point where the big items are done (next big one after the roof will be the deck/stairs) and then we can go on to the more fun things like finish-work. Onward and upward! Hooray. The roof is framed!
Just out of curiosity, why did you not build a drive to the site? Are you always going to schlep everything to the house even after you are living there? Seems a terribly back-breaking way of doing things. Am enjoying watching your progress and learning about building in Rincon, one of my favorite places on earth!
Hi Mary! That is a great question as a road would have made things a lot easier. The answer is that for us, a road would change the entire experience. As it is the cabin is away from any roads and the only way to get there is by a single file walking path thru the jungle! It makes the place feel very hidden and adventurous. The walk does cross a quebrada with changes in topography which would also make the road more difficult to actually build. After the cabin is done we want to build a bridge and expand and improve the walkways with more ginger, heliconias, flowers, palms and fruit trees. It is our tropical cabin hideaway in the jungle 🙂
Yippee, roof is up! Britton looks a bit frustrated at the off center beams as I would be too. I love how the turkeys are always wandering around curious as to what is happening, lol. Great job!
Britton, how´s your Spanish now? In Cassie´s case I must believe she already speaks it extremely fluid, right?
BTW, have you tried the granitos in Humacao?
And, what´s your favorite food in Puerto Rico? And, do you cook Puerto Rican food?
Looks good! Are you guys going to live in it full time? When do you think you will be done? How much do you think the whole thing is going to cost?
Thanks Barbara, it was a little frustrating to say the least. Haha, those turkeys are so funny. The toms constantly gobble at the weird things and noises humans make.
Britton’s Spanish is definitely improving, though he has a definite construction vocabulary including quite a few “groserias” and I must remind him not to say “cabrón” (and other vulgarities) all the time like they do at the site. Lester, we will have to write a post about Puerto Rican food because it is so varied, but yes we love quite a bit of it. I don’t know what granitos are though.
Jeff, the plan is for us to live in the cabin full-time at least until we feel like building or living in something else on the property. The project is moving along at a good clip and “done” is a hard word to pin down. We should have a roof by the end of next week, and most of the big stuff by next month. Finishing we will probably take our time on and do a lot of ourselves which may slow it down a little, but we can at least live in it. Cost is fairly low since we had a lot of the materials already and labor is reasonable as well.
Your place is coming along nicely you guys should really be proud of your accomplishments. I’m sure Britton is learning some spanish construction lingo I know I did working with the guys on our finca. The good & the bad words. It helps when you go to the ferreteria looking for supplies.
Keep up the good work ,I’m enjoying your blog.
Hi Cassie,
Well, granitos are a unique fried food that´s only available in Humacao and it´s just sold during the morning.
They´re just made with white rice and a piece of cheese fried:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/22/52/14/2252146f96fc5b5064aabf27672f97c0.jpg
Way back then, you used to buy a bag with like 6 or 8 for $1.00. Now it´s only 4 for $1.00.
Still amazing that you´ve made it in PR and everything´s been great for you.