Tag Archives: house repairs

Before and After

7 Replies

I just spent a few early morning hours repainting the ledge on the wall. If you see the before and after photos below, you will see why it was necessary. It has been for a long time but the garden tour I’m participating in in a week (yikes) served as incentive to finally do so. There are plants and sculptures that go on the wall. I’ll take a photo when the paint dries and Pasiano is here to help me lift the heavy stones.

Actually, I completed this project hours ago but when i went out to take the “after ” photo, I spotted a Bird of Paradise clump that badly needed thinning out and that led to another and another and so….that led to having to come in to bandage all the cuts and pokes that could have been avoided if I’d just used gloves. Story of my life.

When Your Door Falls Off During the Rainy Season!!

26 Replies

What do you do when you open the back door and the whole heavy glass door falls in as you pull on the knob? First you call Pasiano who works for an hour and can’t get it reinstalled. So he props it against the outside storage cupboard–possibly the worst place to put it if you in fact require access to anything stored in the closet , but at least it is sort of protected from the inevitable rain. Then you call every aluminum place in three towns and either they don’t answer or they are crazy busy. Can anyone come today? No. Tomorrow? Probably not. Will they call you when they can come? Yes.

IMG_5216

Click on photos to enlarge and read the captions.

Luckily, there is an additional barred screen door installed outside the main door, so at least we had security.
so stopgap measures were called for.
The next morning, Pasiano and Yolanda decided it might be a good idea to resort to plastic to cover the screen door–in this case the plastic tablecloths I use for kids’ art classes.
And, Yolanda and I again made a round of phone calls. No promises, but late this afternoon, ViLuMa called to say they’d be here in 20 minutes.
Some of the work took place outside,
but whenever one of the guys was inside, Ollie was right there checking out the action–for the entire time they were here!
An hour and a half later, the plastic tablecloths were restored to their neat pile,
the door was installed,
and all was again right in our world. And the view is definitely better without the plastic!

Mysteries of Home Ownership

22 Replies

The murals being painted on the walls of my house, the wifi installation saga, the bee adventure, the water/plumbing saga–all are events now past, but further stories were waiting to be told. This is the story of a number of little mysteries down through the years that have been solved or are on their ways to being solved due to Jesus’s sleuthery. I here share that story with you because after all, what else have we all got to do?

Click on the photos to read the story and to enlarge the photos.

I had noticed patches of silitre on the walls of the guest room, as well as a number of other places on the outside of the house and a few inside, but that is par for the course in Mexico where they use too much lime in the concrete to enable it to dry faster.
If you wonder what silitre is, it is the same as salt peter of other fame.
This winter, however, during the rainy season, my guest room flooded two times with an inch of water–thankfully just up to the bed but no further–about half of the room.
It seemed impossible that it was coming in under the sliding glass doors, since they were raised 3 inches off the terrace. And what was causing so much moisture in the walls?
This caused me to call Mohammed Kazem, who was my contractor for my studio and gazebo, who in turn sent Alfredo who decided to attack the guest room problem first. I have suspected for years that it might be a broken pipe embedded in the concrete and so he spent the morning chipping away,
Unfortunately, he had started his exploration on the second floor so now I have a huge hole in my house. How they will repair the pipe, I don’t know. I guess that is tomorrow’s installment.
And we still have the issue of that possible big hole under my house that’s causing all the cracks—as evidenced by all this repair work of the stairwell up to the second level as well as crack in the guest room. I guess that is the day after tomorrow’s installment.

Backdoor Sliders

10 Replies

 

Backdoor Sliders

I take a break from my last chore
to peer through glass, ceiling to floor.
For though a view I never lack,
my house’s eyes are all in back.
I watch the gardener cut and trim,
the locksmith to the right of him.

One scrubs the algae from the pool—
a craftsman polishing his jewel.
A man on ladder repairs the wall,
the tree-trimmer the highest of all.
See how we tend her outer skin–
they without and we within?

Yolanda sweeps the terrace floor,
then comes inside to sweep some more.
Inside I watch and labor, too,
for there are many tasks to do.
I dust and gather detritus,
smooth out wrinkles, straighten muss.

Three days a week we labor so
until I wonder if I know
which is the owner and which the thing
that luxury and comfort brings?
Dear house, is it you that harbors me,
or am I here to maintain thee?

 

DSC09933 DSC09379 DSC09411 DSC09498 DSC09902 IMG_1520 IMG_1512 DSC09935


The Boss:↓↓

DSCF3572

 

 

RDP’s prompt for today is looking out of my backdoor. Since I did this prompt three years ago, I decided to reprint that post today. I had forgotten it. Hopefully, if you’ve been following me for that long, you have, too.

No Time for Moody

15 Replies

img_0646

What me, moody?  No time to be so.  Spent four hours decorating the Christmas tree last night.  Unfortunately, seems as though when Yolanda packed up the ornaments for me last year—very carefully, wrapping each one (but neglecting to put them in their regular boxes so I had two large cartons of empty boxes as well as one large carton of neatly wrapped ornaments) she also just cut the hanging loops off with the result that none of the 200 or more ornaments had anything to hang them from.  Plus, she seems to have thrown away the wire hangers the loops hung from, so not only did I need to cut and form 200 hangers from wire, but also figure out how to attach them!  I did so appreciate her untrimming the tree last year, but this year I think I’ll just cover it with plastic and store it in the laundry room!  Save hours next year.  (I didn’t mention untangling 4 long strands of Xmas lights to discover only one worked.)

But I’m not moody.  No time to be so.  Especially since after two days of painting the bathroom I discovered that the cement window frame I’d worked hours on to gouge out and sand away all the salitre, treat with vinegar, dry with fans, treat with Sin Salitre, dry overnight with fans, then fill with white cement, had one problem.  The day after I completed this three day process (due to need to dry completely,) when I ran a cloth over the job, it came off covered with powder.  I then used my hand.  Covered with white powder.  Commenced coughing coughing coughing from the dust.

Then a light bulb went on over my head.  I must have filled the holes with grout rather than cement!  They look exactly the same, and when Pasiano neglected to find the white cement for me, I went to find it myself in the garage and got a bag of grout instead.  Damn.  This would mean sanding it out, more dust, more coughing.  So, I found a bottle of grout sealant and  painted it on.  When it dries, I’m going to go ahead and paint over it anyway.  If it doesn’t work, I’ll do the job right after Xmas

My best friends will arrive to spend Xmas with me in 3 days.  28 people coming for a Xmas day potluck, need to visit Guadalajara to buy the ham and rolls and other party fare. Still need to find a place for all the retablos still residing on my dining room table.  Carpenter came today to take my kitchen island to fix so all of it’s drawers residing in different places on my counter top and dining room floor.  Two more boxes of Xmas decorations to find and no idea where they are hiding out, bathroom to finish painting, spare room full of material that was put upstairs during retiling and that needs to be put away. Lights and papel picado to string up, Nacimientos to set out, manger to assemble.

But moody?  No way.  I have no time to be moody.  Above is the Xmas tree I decorated last night.  It’s beginning to feel a lot like Xmas.  I did Aguinaldos (Christmas Bonuses) and gifts for Pasiano and Yolanda, wrapped up a Hello Kitty notebook for Yoli and a new laptop computer for Oscar, filled Xmas stockings for Marti and Patty, my looooooong time  friends who are visiting . (So excited they’ll be here for Xmas.)  Yes.  definitely, Xmas is in the air, as full of dust as it may be, as cluttered and stacked up and makeshift as it may be.  In three days all will be perfect.  And it is also perfect that all this activity leaves no room for moodiness.  Moody? Me? Never.

 

 

The prompt today is “moody.”

Elicit

13 Replies

 A phone call to me today might elicit no response, but you will increase your chances if you stay on the phone long after the message machine has cut in.  The reasons for this are as follows:

At 9:05 a.m., nine men arrived at my front gate with a truck load of large porcelain tiles that look like paving stones with the intention of tiling my entire house with them–a process that will take between one and two weeks.

To facilitate said process, I’ve removed everything in my house except heavy furniture and put it either in the upstairs casita, the spare bedroom and bathroom, the dining room or kitchen.  When the rest of the house is tiled, we’ll move the heavy sculpture and furniture and doo-dads still in the guest bedroom (including me) and bath and kitchen and dining room into the tiled rooms and complete the tile process. Anyone who has ever been in my house will know this is tantamount to packing up a small museum and putting it into storage.

As a result of said shufflings, I can no longer locate my bathroom scale, 1/2 of every pair of shoes, my blood pressure records, 2 smoothies (prepared this morning and lost in turn) and the one phone that is still connected but divorced from its cradle.

In spite of the fact that I’ve just located my now-melted smoothie as well as my phone in the guest bathroom, which is now my only usable bathroom, the fact that five of the nine men are now using hammers and chisels to remove the tile trim on the walls above every floor in the house means it is impossible to hear the phone ring.  Just now, one of the men came to tell me I had a phone call (I call him my secretary now) but alas, whoever it was had hung up by the time I remembered where I’d stashed the phone.

If you’d like some idea of what we’ve been going through for the past two days, you might want to check out the below photos.

Except for the fact that I dropped my Mac on the floor and everything seems to be operating except for the trackpad, which means I can’t maneuver the photos to edit them or place them anywhere, including the desktop or my blog!

This is absolutely not my day.  But has it elicited a scream or even an oath?  It has not.  Has my blood pressure risen?  If I could find my cuff, I could tell you.

Okay, after hours of work and forgottenman’s help, I have edited the photos and he’s now putting them into this blog.  This is REALLY a dual effort today.

Click on first photo to enlarge and read the captions, which I am sure you will want to do as you are totally into this renovation.  Right?  Am I turning into one of those people who take a photo of every meal and post it on Facebook?

Naked room. That’s Donald resting up for the rigors ahead. Will have to wait 4 more years to smash this pinata!
Looks empty and sad. That will change.
Stuff
And more stuff.
Interim resting spot. The Virgin shares her space.
Table filling up. Living room emptying out.
Bob’s and my spiral lamp creation deserved a dust cover of its own.
These ladies will witness it all.
Before. Giant bathtub I never use will come out in lieu of a new shower and bench. Tub side will be cut down to just above the floor for easy entry. A small wall like the one on the right but a bit higher will go beside the chest on the left to guard from shower spray.
Adventures in plumbing.
Ghost of a room.
The next time you see this hall, it will be very different.
Trying to fit everything from my bathroom undergoing a remodel into my guest bathroom. Yes, those are the boxes for my blood pressure machines, but not the machines themselves. I heard one go off spontaneously a half hour ago, but still couldn’t find it!
My new office/bedroom/sanctuary.
These tiles are now all spread out, being cut and shaped. Again, this is the entry to my house!
The obstacle course. This is the entry to my house!
Doesn’t show here, but there is a lot of variation between tiles, which look like stone. Note Morrie and Diego moving around according to where the action is.
Waiting for breakfast.
Off with the old.
I’ve found a number of these big fellas seeking shelter now that the pictures and retablos they lived behind have been taken away.
A cat knows how to find the most comfortable place no matter what the situation.
Annie thought she was top cat until she saw that the new cat on the block gets to be on the bed when she doesn’t!
Once they started cutting tile in the house, I put a huge plastic wall up over this arch. Now I have to go outside to get to the kitchen from my sanctuary.
The kitchen and dining room will be the last to be tiled, so they are acting as a repository of decorative items from other rooms.
Taking into account some of his recent appointments, I thought Donald needed a time out.

The prompt word today was “elicit.”

Stepping up the Action (Pool Progress)

13 Replies

I thought I’d posted these photos of yesterday’s pool party, but I guess I didn’t.  So here are Chino and Diego supervising while the guys do all the hard work. I have the easiest job of all, taking photos:

When today dawned with driving rain, I was sure the building of steps for the pool would be delayed for a day, but bright and early the guys showed up, strung a tarp over the pool, and continued.  When the rain let up, Chino came to inspect the work and execute the first stroll up and down the steps.  I took the second trip.  Here is proof of progress. Now on to perfecting the smoothness and curved edges of the concrete, some repair of the wall between the pool and hot tub and the tiling.