Days 12 & 13

This week we did not anticipate one worker being absent from work due to illness. At least we still had one worker plus DH to do the Bostik and painting of the 10th, 11th and 12th panels. They finally completed them early this afternoon. We also decided to apply a 2nd coat of the Princess Peach which made the panels look better.  Then they moved the scaffolding counter-clockwise so they can apply 2nd coat to the previous 7 panels.

We noticed that with DH helping out the work seems to have gotten faster.

We hope to start working on the panels above the bathroom this week too.

(My tablet is still out of commission. Looks like we have to go to the city to have it serviced. Tried to upload using DH's tablet but it just took forever. Hope my tablet will be fixed so I can post the pics.)

Days 10 & 11

(Update on my tablet: It got totally discharged when the lady at the store reset it. Hopefully, it was just a battery problem. Otherwise, we will have to bring it to the service center in the city. :/  Tried to upload pictures using this tablet, not mine, but it took forever. Will post them once I get to charge my tablet.)

Anyway, on Saturday we were able to completely finish 9 panels, cleared 3  panels, and applied cement on almost all 3. One of our worker was absent then so only DH and the other worker set up the scaffolding so they can reach the panel that is above our bedroom closet. That took most of the first half of the day. At least by the 2nd half they managed to cement most of the panels.

Next week, on Monday in particular, we want to completely finish those 3 panels. On Tuesday, one of the workers will be taking half the day off. So we hope to set up the scaffolding by the bathroom before he leaves for the day. We will have to figure this out as the scaffolding is too big to be placed inside the bathroom. Then they can proceed with the removal of the mat/plastic/net/tarp.

We hope we can stick to this schedule so we will be able to complete the project by mid-June.

Days 5 - 8

(While I was posting this the other day my tablet decided to terminate itself. I just had it for less than 5 months. It seems that most of the electronics around here do not last long thath is why warranties are not worth it. Anyway, I am just glad we have pictures on this blog coz I doubt if we can retrieve any of them from my tablet.)

This week we have opened up 6 panels, did 3 first. Removed the mats, plastic, net and tarps. Applied the cement, then the Bostik. While waiting for it to dry we then opened up the next 3 panels. Work has speeded up compared to the previous week. We hope to complete all 6 tomorrow. Then we can start opening up the next 3. The reason work speeded up is because DH helped with the cementing and painting. All three of them doing one panel each does make a differenece.

I was going to post a picture of all 9 panels, tshowing the different stages: finished, bostik applied, and cement applied. But the connection is too slow to upload. Will try another time.

Day 4

We started painting on the cementitious waterproofer however we found out that the mix was watery. It was supposed to be thick so you will need to add the appropriate amount of water to it. This time we mixed in a cup of the watewrproofer with 2 cups of water which made it runny. We think that the supplier diluted the mix to sell more of it. We could not return the product since it has been opened and used. There is a "no return" policy for items like this. At least we can still use the remaining mix, just as is without any additional water.

Today we finished waterproofing 2 panels and opened up the 3rd one then applied pure cement on exposed areas. Tomorrow we start painting the 2 panels, maybe even the 3rd one too. So excited to see the result.

Ceiling Job: Day 1-3

We began opening up the mats on Saturday but did not complete remove the entire panel. Since both our workers needed to complete their specific jobs from the previous week we only started work inside the house on Tuesday after their lunch break. Once the mats, the plastic sheeting, the net and the tarp backing were removed we saw that there were portions where the wire mesh was exposed which we needed to cover with cement. It was not that much, as we have imagined it would be. Also, the top portion, where the mason could only access a small area underneath the stainless steel compression ring, we needed to add about an inch more of cement/sand mix. The rest of the little holes or puck marks were smoothened with pure cement.

Opening up the first mat panel. Checking to see what's up there.

 

Remove the polycarbonate ceiling.   

Removing the tarp backing. 

The top portion with the wires sticking out is now covered with an inch thick cement. 

Look who's doing some work on the ceiling?

 

Two ceiling panels done, started opening up the 3rd one today. 21 more panels to go.

Today, Day 3, we finished cementing two panels and removing the mats on the next panel. We are working clockwise around the house: starting from the south door. This way we get to the room and the bathroom last. We have yet to decide if we should move to our little shack while work is being done, but so far we don't think we need to. We'll find out soon enough.

Tomorrow we will paint on the cementitious waterproofer first then the semi-gloss indoor paint Princess Peach. We also will be painting on red primer on the underside of the compression ring (which is visible inside the house) as well as the rebars that will be exposed once we completely remove all the mats around the bond beam.

Because we have a small area to work with and just one set of scaffolding, we have to do the work a panel at a time, meaning we will complete a panel from cementing to painting, then move on to the next panel. We hope to finish this quickly and easily, with less obstruction to our daily routine. *fingers crossed* :P

Inside roof work soon to begin

On saturday we have begun setting up our scaffolding inside the house. We plan to work 2 panels at a time as we only have 2 workers and a small space to move around. We will most likely being removing the plastic sheeting and tarp on Tuesday. Instead of doing shotcrete, we will just use pure cement mix and paste it smooth in areas where there are exposed wire mesh. Then paint on the cementitious waterproofer followed by paint.

We were thinking of doing this next year but we realized we needed to make sure these exposed wire mesh will not completely rust, especially when the rainy season is almost upon us - the humidity will surely contribute to it. it is better we do this now.

Thank you for checking in on us. Until the next post...Aloha!

A week later...

After completing the ferrocement roof project we have started doing some minor landscaping projects around the house. We staarted with opening up the south side, chiseled off the rock wall to give way to a gravel pathway which ends up on the rotunda. This way we have an alternative way to enter the house, a path without steps or stairs. We leveled the dirt about 4 inch deep, put the 1inch aggregate, tamped it, then the small gravel and sand, tamped it.

 Here we have dug out the edge to make a small French drain. This is where the rain water pools after a deluge. We made sure that the soil underneath is slanted to where we want the water to go. After we finished this, the rains poured that night and we saw that this French drain works. Also, opening up that south portion of the wall helps in getting the water to flow out towards the garden, instead of staying inside the wall.

We really wanted to have an open area in the south side of the house but when the rock wall was made we were not there to let them know not to completely encircle the house with a wall. Fortunately, in spite of the bowl-like wall, we did not have any flooding problems inside the house, even with the strong deluge of rain a few times last year.

We are also improving on our canal above the steps, to make sure that it is clear and able to divert any flood coming from above to where we want it.

In the next few months we will be doing some minor landscape work and prepare our land for the coming rainy season. We are very fortunate that in spire of te summer heat, drought forecasted all throughout the country, we have plants that have survived and are producing some fruit like the mansanitas or jamaican cherry, nang duc mai mango and of course our staples: coconuts, bananas and papayas. We are simply grateful to the Universe for abundance all around.