Category Archives: Construction

Column Construction: Rebar, Footers and Concrete

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The guys are making some great progress on the cabin foundation. The concrete stuff is all new to us, so it has been quite the learning experience. Since we can’t actually drive to the cabin site, we opened up the fence in order to be able to drive the truck halfway there. This saved a lot of time, labor and heavy breathing going up and down and up and down with just buckets and a wheelbarrow. Though there was still some of that too.

Loading the rebar
Driving through the formerly fenced area

They worked a few days on the rebar for the columns, then they loaded them onto the truck as far as they could go and then carried them to the site.

Cutting rebar Stair work benchBending and cutting rebar for the column skeletons

Then they set and measured them to make sure everything was level again.

Rebar columns
Rebar columns

Truck down below
Unloading the truck and taking the sand two buckets at a time

Truck loaded up
Good thing we have a truck! It was super filled with sand, boards, and concrete

Finally, they had unloaded everything to the flattest part of the quebrada under the canopy and by a pretty mango tree. Here they built a mixing platform and began to hand mix the concrete. Luckily the three hoses reached because we had hooked up water to the turkey coop!

Mixing concrete
Mixing in the shade


Sounds like the start of a good joke: Four guys and four turkeys make concrete in the jungle…

And then they were able to load up the buckets once again and haul them up the hill to the site where they dumped them into the holes to make the footers.

Footers
Zapatones/Footers

We had a huge rainstorm that caused a bit of a delay, but they were able to finish all the footers in one day. Next in line will be the column molds and repeating the hauling and mixing process for them as well.

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Construction Jargon and Batter Boards

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In addition to the Puerto Rican Spanish I am learning, I am also learning Construction Spanish AND English vocabulary! 🙂 I am learning all about rebar (varilla) and these things called aros (not sure in English what these little squares of rebar are called) and all the varieties of sand (arena and arenon), concrete (concreto, hormigon, concrelisto), lumber (madera, palos), sizes and types of nails (clavos galvinizados o de acero), sweet wire? (alambre dulce) saws (sierras), hammers (martillos) and sledgehammers (marrón o majón depending on the person), pickaxes (picotas), cutting shovel and others (pala de corte y otras palas) hoses (manga o manguera) etc.

This is because we spend a lot of our time in hardware stores (ferreterías) and with the guys that work with us on our projects. Our most recent step in the cabin project has been batter boards (Spanglish: bater bors). I had never even heard this term in English, but apparently it is essential to assure a square and level structure. That would have been nice to know when we built the chicken/turkey coops, but instead we have very “custom” coops, haha (hey, they ARE level at least!).

Site
The cleared site

Britton (and sometimes I) worked every day for a couple of weeks cutting and clearing the space. It was hard, hot work! The site was finally deemed ready and cleared of enough trees and brush that they could start building the batter boards. So the first step in the batter boards is to set about measuring.

Measuring
Measurements

The next step is to build a wooden frame around the actual footprint of the structure that is level and squared. And finally, it is to drop the plumb bob (plomada) to determine exactly where to place the columns.

Building on a slope, we knew we would need poles/columns for a foundation because excavation and a slab foundation wouldn’t be feasible in this remote location. We even figured that we wouldn’t probably be able to use the poles from the wood house because they would be too short. What we didn’t figure was just how steep the slope was. We have learned that anything with walkable land in Puerto Rico is not considered steep. People often remark at how “flat” our land is. Flat is relative. On the plains of Colorado, we know flat. Flat as a fricken pancake. Here, though flat just means you can walk it without slipping over a cliff. So even though this site was “flat” by Puerto Rico standards, the batter boards don’t lie. Our front columns will be 8-10 feet high and the deck even more.

Height
Way above my head  

Batter boards
And Britton’s too!

Site with batter boards
Batter boards, complete!

Next up, diggin’ holes in rocky soil under a hot sun for the columns. I am sure the vocabulary for THAT will be quite enlightening! 🙂

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Preparing the Site

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We are in the early stages of cabin-building. The first step is to prepare the site.

Cabin Site
Cabin site before clearing: So many trees and brush!

This means finding and improving trails to the site as well as clearing trees and brush where it will be located. The guys also brought over the huge girders (from the old wooden house). This was quite the task as they are very heavy and long (30 feet).

Huge Board
Long, heavy girders. Not so hard going down the hill but uphill is a different story

Site Clearing
Cleared quite a lot already

Exciting stuff is underway!

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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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