Sunday, May 2, 2010

Countermeasures Are In Place and Now We Get Things Going

May 1, 2010 - For the last few days, we have experienced much rain that has slowed things down. I arranged for a meeting with Jose and Luis at the job site on Saturday to discuss the countermeasures. When I arrived, Luis and the men were going full bore pouring the concrete footers.

When Jose arrived shortly after, he had the final plans that he is going to submit to the Municipality on Monday to get the permits. He gave me a copy and promised to email Keith a copy.

We discussed the plan for the footers. They went as deep as they could all the way around the foundation and Luis is doing what they call an armor footer to strengthen everything. Jose explained that they will lay two rows of block, lay all the required piping and fill it in so the floor will be above the 2nd row of blocks. This means that everything on the lot will have to be raised to the height of the floor, By the time this is all completed, the footer will be 1 meter deep and more in some areas. The end result is that the building will not be affected by any changes in the soil around it, and will be much stronger than others in the area.

Luis leading the way for the concrete. No, here in Costa Rica, truck concrete mixers are not the norm. Concrete is poured one wheelbarrow at a time.












In order to make more room behind the house, Luis utilized the jack hammer to cut out a portion of the dirt/rock wall. This will also provide more stability for the dirt when they are finished.









As you can see in the pictures, the re-rod for the first floor walls are in place, the blocks for the walls has been delivered - I think they will be ready to start laying the blocks on Monday. We will keep you posted.

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