Week 7 - The start of the floor

So although I said the roof was finished I still haven't been able to seal it yet as its rainy season here and I need the roof to be really dry before I seal it. Its almost completely water tight though just a couple of damp walls, but that will all be fixed when its sealed.

Extending the new roof - rotten beams at rear

I also took off a section of the roof from the back of the house as a couple of beams where looking worse for wear so they came down this week. Its about 20sqm so shouldn't take more than a few days to complete, we have already made the beams to go up but before I get that complete I really want to complete this floor. My maestro has been ill this week so its been up to me to start the floor. 

Demolishing a small part of the roof at the rear

The beams are made and all up now. But the biggest job is getting them all lined up. The old floor beams were all over the place, none of them were level so it has taken a couple of days just to get one side level. 

Inside the main building

My hammer drill broke and trying to get it fixed has been nightmare. One person kept it for three days and gave it back to me claiming it was fixed... nope, and he even had the cheek to try and charge me for it. So I had to bite the bullet and buy a new one - at least this one comes with warranty.

Floor beams up

It doesnt look much at the moment but I just need to set the beams in concrete tomorrow and then the floor can start going up. I am double layering the floor boards (1 x 8’s) - I wanted to do this so heres no gaps to the rooms below. 

A level floor - I hated this job!

I also started to run the conduit in the walls for the electric cables. Most people have said I should just run them outside the walls but I like all the wiring to be hidden - a lot more work but it will look a lot better.

An almost complete 'pool house'

The little outhouse out the back is also taking shape. I got the guys to plaster it as I wanted to test how good they were before I give them the job of plastering the entire house and they have done a good job so far - should also be finished in a day or two.

Practicing running electrical wires in the little outbuilding 

Eventually I plan to build a two floor building at the back so I don’t want to spend too much money on the back part but that said it needs to look presentable. I wooden supports you see at the front of the door will be replaced with Caoba that I have kept from the roof beams. They clean up really nice.

Enzo always wants to be where I am working

The little house itself is for my live in caretaker - just a bed and bathroom nothing fancy inside. I also bricked up one part of it to split up one of the rooms. This will be my store room. So I am also hoping that this will be finished by the end of the week. One set back is that I need to take the clay roof tiles off as they were put up wrong which is really annoying. It has to be done as it is raining inside at the moment...

Next week hopefully the floor will be up...

So I am hoping by the next post the floor will almost be complete - If my maestro is back it should be - if not I will do it meaning it will probably take a little bit longer as like everything here I am learning on the job.