Category Archives: Remodeling and Renovating

Cabin Update: Electric and Water

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Agua y luz. Water and electricity. When you move into a house, this is what makes it a house and not just a shed or storage area. We recently finished up the electricity installation including the fans and it really makes it feel like home when you can just turn on the lights at night, the fans when it gets hot, or turn on a little music.

Fans at the cabin
Outdoor fans for the front deck

Britton also framed in the last bit of the wall and the bathroom loft area. We are in the home stretch!

Wall Ceiling and Fan in Cabin
Bedroom fan and framed wall

LoftRafters above the bathroom and closet 

To install water at the cabin, Britton connected about 300 feet of 1/2 inch tubing, buried about half of it, crossed the property, affixed it beneath the sky bridge and then connected it to the cabin.

Waterline under bridge
Waterline where it travels under the bridge

Waterline to the house
Waterline where it connects from the bridge to the cabin

Next up was internal copper water lines which Britton soldered. Thankfully we have plenty of leftover copper pipes that we reused from the old wooden house and so this was fairly inexpensive. Britton has also worked a little with copper piping before and so this went fast. There was one pipe rupture but Britton fixed it pretty quickly.

Water piping inside
Bathroom plumbing and wiring are ready!

You could call this the house that Britton built. Almost everything he did himself or with one other helper. There has not been a moment when he was not working hands on. An amazing feat. It can take a little longer when it’s just you and you’re learning as you go, but he has been a champ. He’s done a great job!

We are now on to the next phase. The skin. Drywall should arrive this upcoming week and Britton and Waldemar will begin installation. It’s all coming together and really starting to feel like a house. I can’t wait to move in!

Cabin in the woods
Home sweet cabin! 

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Birds of a Feather

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Not too much to update. Life has been good. We are still playing music with the band and progressing on the cabin. We’ve also been hanging out and having a good time. We are fortunate to spend time with such a varied group of people we call our friends.

Core Five Continentals
Hanging out with the band in the Jam Space after a jam 

Baby turkey
This little turkey hatched from a nest over by the cabin and was the sole survivor. Since she has no one else to cuddle with, she snuggles up with me.

Electrical work
Running the electrical wire at the cabin with our friend Papo

Bird world
The birds making themselves at home at la finca

Surfer Spot
Enjoying a late night drink and food at Surfer Spot with friends

Live Music art walk
Lots of fun and friends at the Art Walk in Rincón every Thursday evening

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The Cabin Roof is Finished!

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The roof was one of the largest (and most expensive thus far) tasks of the cabin. First we had to deal with those beams which turned out to be a huge headache and frame the roof…twice. Then we had to paint 32 panels of siding for the underside in the hot sun and then haul them over to the site. Next was to tar paper the whole roof and put up the purlins.

Tar paper
Tar paper on

It was finally at this point that we could order and get started on the actual metal galvalume roofing. We chose a red color and I think it turned out beautifully.

roof panels going up
The roof is pretty steep, but Waldemar (unlike the rest of us) had no fear

Roof half done

Lifting the roofing

Roof

There is still a little gutter work that needs to be done, but overall the roof is finished. We finally have a dry, shady place for all the tools and materials (and people). And just in time too. We had gone about 3 weeks with no rain while we were in the process of the roof and then, the rains came. Britton happened to be in the cabin alone after the roof was finished as a major rainstorm started and he said it was wonderful! Secluded, rainy, jungle green outside but nice and dry inside. Just how you would want a roof to be!

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The Roof is Framed!

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Poco a poco we are getting through some of these tough spots in the cabin-building.

Scaffolding
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.

Building walls
Framing and working with the scaffolding

Turkey and Britton working on the cabin
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.

Painting panels
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.

Side house
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.

House with roof framed
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.

Carrying materials through the forest
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!

Cassie Sweeping
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!

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