What is that funky smell?

You guessed it - time to start the plumbing. Now I knew the pipes were in a bit of a state as all the upstairs plumbing was blocked along with all the drains so I was expecting to replace everything.

Trench the length of the property for pipes

I got an extra guy in to dig up all the channels for the new pipes as I didn’t want to slow down my guys doing the plastering. They have finished in the inside downstairs and have just started to do the outside under the arches. The ceilings are so high it makes me want to cry when I see how much cement I go through a day... but the good news is I am about two thirds done with the walls - I cannot wait to to finish them all.

All the old pipes were blocked solid 

I have dug the trench a bit wider in the back garden as I need to make some concrete foundations for the pillars to sure up the balcony - I thought I may as well do this whilst I am putting the plumbing in. 

There was a lot of rocks!

My original plan was to install a 6 inch pipe down the length the of the property and tie in all the 4 inch wastage pipes from the bathrooms and drains. All looked good on paper... However when I got to digging up the collapsed inspection pit - which is inside the house I might add - I found the old clay pipe that connects the main sewage line under the street outside. Now the good news is that it seems to be all in tact but the bad news is that it is only 4 inches... 

Thats the clay pipe in the right hand corner of the pit

So I have a decision to make before I move on... I have spoken to a few other house owners and a small hotel in the Colonial Zone and apparently that is the norm. To me it seems very small as I will have around 10 bathrooms - it doesn’t seem right to me. My choice is either go to Ayuntamiento (which I really don’t want to do after the permit process) to dig up the road outside my house to connect a 6 inch pipe or just go with the 4 inch and add an extra inspection pit and cleanouts to ensure if it does block I can unclog it with ease.  I haven’t a clue what to do yet to be honest going to have to think about that one. 

Plastering under the sun deck

So plumbing wise I have about 6 more days of digging for the guy to do and in the mean time I am getting quotes for all the pipes and fittings. But I am hoping it goes quite quickly to actually install the plumbing - I have it all planned out so hopefully I shouldn’t run in to to many problems. 

Plastering is moving along well

I am eventually getting through my job list - every now and then something pops up however... like yesterday I forgot to run the wire to the grounding rod so I was rushing to get it installed before the guys plaster that wall. Also I have been meaning to fix a few things on my car and service my bike - so this week I replaced my starter motor, two window motors and front brakes on my Jeep and replaced the front and rear brake pads on my bike along with changing the oil. Its little things like that I have been meaning to do for a while now but you know its time when you have to carry a hammer to start the Jeep and you hear scraping whilst you brake on your bike. 

Fixing my bike around the mess

So hopefully by the next post I will have most of the waste pipes fitted in the house and the guys should almost be finished the plastering out the back. Until next time...

Light at the end of the tunnel...

I am really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. It may not look it from the photos but I have had a really productive couple of weeks. Where shall I start...

Upstairs rear of house

Well I have finally finished running all the electrical wiring over the whole house - the amount of wire I used was a bit of a shock but it is done now and I have to say I did not enjoy doing it that much. Having to dig in the walls was tired and dirty work - a lot of people said to me why dont I just run wires outside on the walls but I hate the look of houses with external wiring and while I was doing the walls anyway it seemed stupid not to run them in the walls.

A big job!

I am sure I have made a few mistakes in there somewhere but I will find them when I start testing the circuits. I have used a 200amp main panel, a 125amp sub panel for upstairs and to 40 amp junction boxes at either end in the garden. I forget the size of the place sometimes as I have had to buy and install over 300 wall outlets/switch boxes. I did go a little crazy putting outlets everywhere but it is better to have to many than to little... right?

Makeshift Scaffolding 

The guys have been working really hard with the walls - I can tell they are fed up with it - it makes it worse have to bring all the materials upstairs so hopefully it will be easier downstairs. They have done a really good job upstairs and have just finished it today, well I say finished... I haven’t completed the plumbing yet so I have 4 bathrooms and a kitchen left to plaster up there but its 80% completed.

Starting downstairs

The amount of windows, doors and details in each room is really time consuming and it gets frustrating at times with the apparent lack of progress - but when that happens I just look back at my last blog post and see the progress since my last post and the frustration goes away.

My big goal over the next month is to actually move in - might seem like a crazy thought looking at the photos but once the walls and plumbing are complete downstairs its doors, floors and decorate and our home is ready. It will save me a fortune in gas and time going back and forward each day as gas seems to be going up in price everyday here at the moment.

Just finishing the windows

One of the jobs that has popped up is the rear balcony - I kind of put it to the back of my mind and though I would just deal with it at the end but it became apparent that I need to do something with it before they plaster downstairs. It looks in a bad state but the supports are safe, although they are not level. They are made from concrete with metal bar so are really strong but I want to build a little roof overhanging the balcony - although it will not be heavy I am unsure about adding any extra weight to it.

So the plan is to use the old roof beams as pillars to hold and level the balcony and continue those pillars up to the overhang roof. I was a little unsure about how this would look at first but I liked the look of the pillars supporting the roof on the pool house so I thought why not give it a go.

Looking good

The other option is to build concrete pillars to hold it all up but I like the idea of using the old roof beams as look awesome and best of all they are free! Being as the base of the pillars is where the plumbing will be run I will start digging it up and putting up the pillars at the same time.

Beach house in Azua

I am working 6 days a week, around 10 hours a day at the moment - I am not complaining as I love it but it sure does get you tired. I try and get away every Sunday to do something different - this weekend it was a friends beach house in Azua - just thought I would add this photo in as I had a great day off.

So whilst the guys have the plastering downstairs to keep them busy for at least another month I can move on to my next task. The plumbing! I am really looking forward to it as I got so bored of running wires.

Wow, time is flying - I cannot believe it is August already. I am a little behind my planned schedule but still reasonably happy with the progress so far. The walls have turned out to be a bigger task than thought and even more of an expense than planned. You would not believe the amount of cement I have gone through...

An almost complete pool house

Although when you look back at what the walls were like before you can tell why it needed so much - I dont think one wall is straight in the whole house.

Finished walls - what a difference

The guys have started on the outside upstairs now which will be a massive transformation - I cannot wait for it to be completed. Whilst the guys are doing the walls I have been finishing running the electric downstairs, I have finished the back part of the house and the outside lighting now I need to do the four big main rooms. Its one hell of a job but I am getting there.

The huge doorways take a lot of time

I have just bought the main panel so have started to dig in to the wall to fit that into place. As soon as I finish the electrics I am going to have to start the plumbing. Thats the problem with being on a tight budget - I have a list a mile long and it keeps on getting bigger!. 

The outside walls - had seen better days

The pool house at the back of the property was annoying me as the roof was leaking and was half finished so I decided to task myself with finishing that. First was the roof, the tiles put up by a previous worker had to come off as it was leaking and I put a proper roof with waterproof membrane and replaced the tiles on top.

Cant wait to get painting

It was a bit of a pain as I had to buy a few more roof tiles as I broke about 15 when taking them off but I was pleased with the finished roof. I also finished hanging the doors, and varnishing all the wood - a very messy job but I thought I should do it sooner rather than later to protect the wood. I also put another beam I recycled from the old roof as a support - I think it looks pretty good actually.

Rear balcony

The doors were a priority of mine as now I have a secure lockable room for all my tools which is a big weight off my mind. I know I have Enzo to guard the place and the workers but it just makes me sleep easy knowing they are secure.

Remember this picture - should be a big transformation in a few weeks

So hopefully by the next post the upstairs plastering will almost be complete... until next time.