The South Building Second Floor Slab
Part 0 - a little pause

 

Progress on preparations for the second floor slab has been delayed first by the illness of our lead mason; and now by the unexpectedly high cost of hiring a form setting team to bring the lumber and erect the forms.

The best price we could find was about US$ 800 per house for a project total of US$ 3,200.  

A little checking around revealed that we could cut the cost in half by buying the lumber and erecting the forms ourselves.

To further reduce the costs, we have arranged to borrow a friend's  3-ton truck which we will drive to Durango to buy the lumber directly from a saw mill.  

I hope to have pictures of this adventure next Saturday (22 June).

My original Idea of a single pour for the second floor slab for the entire building has turned out to be more expensive than doing it in two parts.  So  we'll buy enough form lumber  for one house and the stairs.

 

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the project as it stands now, ready for the second floor slab and stairs.
 

The south house.

The stairs go here.

The two houses and patio.

The usual bunch of suspects are drinking beer under the bamboo shade on a hot Saturday afternoon.

Work is just starting on the front wall.

Below is a drawing of the front wall --color and iron work subject to change.  The left "window" opens for the garage.

 

This picture to hard to figure out, I'll post another when the wall is done.

Some changes in the floor plan have been made.  Coco, who owns the south house first floor, wanted the entry door moved, so it's now where the left curved window used to be (just above the bicycle in the picture). This makes the entry directly into the kitchen area.  I think it screws up the symmetry, but it's his house.  :-(

 

The other change came at the insistence of the city to comply with a brand new code requiring off-street parking.  So one bedroom in Coco's house became a garage.  This change was not much of a problem because Coco and Rayo have only one son and don't plan on more children. 

Cost to date of the South 2nd Floor Slab    (US$   at 9 pesos per dollar)

Several people who have been following this story have inquired about the financing.  The Family asked me to say that they will be eternally grateful to the California lottery.

Material

$ 509

Labor

   

N 2nd floor slab on 6/22

         509

Previous Phases:

   South 1st Floor Shell

7,648

   North 1st Floor Shell

7,958

   Property Walls

7,085

   Property Purchase

24,003

PROJECT TOTAL on 6/22

$ 47,203

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