Building Our House: Progress Video
We've probably made more progress in the construction of our new house since we wrote our last update than ever before. The structure is complete, plastering is nearly finished, and many of the built-ins (counters, shelves and closets) are being installed. Pumbing and electrical tubing and wires have been fished through the maze of concrete walls. We even have a working fosa septica!
While we hope to have a more detailed article written shortly, we thought some of our readers would like to see the common construction processes used here in Yucatan, so we've put together this short video that shows what it takes to build a house out of concrete, cinderblock and cochinita pibil. Enjoy!
If you have not yet read our previous articles on Building Our House, you'll find the most recent one here. It explains some of the processes seen in this video.
Comments
Doug 15 years ago
I really enjoyed the video. I will look forward to seeing the house progress. It will be beautiful and I know you are proud. Lots of hard work in the very hot sun...wow! Good luck.
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Poco loco 16 years ago
what an awesome experience to watch construction of a home in a country where everything is so labor intensive. Please continue to supply us with videos on the construction process as it progresses. :^)
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Doug 16 years ago
Hola Gringos,
I am truly happy for you guys down there,your place looks great ...more than great !
I was wondering if when they put your roof together, if they cemented the blocks together as they layed them? And do you think those cement rails are available in the states? i love the idea's. I am going to try and build a small version using blocks and cement. I live in Oklahoma "Tornado alley " and more homes should be built this way!
Thank you for the inspriation.....
God Bless
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michael and Wanda Fritton 17 years ago
Dear Working Gringos,
We purchased a casa on calle 55 in Santiago two years ago......and let me tell you ,we have been going through a nightmare. The "contractor/architect/engineer" has taken $, tore up the house, demolished two rooms and now hasdisappeared! Ouch.
If you get a chance could you forward some info. to us on names of reliable and trustworthy people that might be able to set our dream back on track?
Thanks for your help.
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kathy 17 years ago
Wow! Your guys wear SHOES??? Ours are barefoot or wear plastic flip flops. I recognize the blok, armex, bulto tras bulto de cemento, (no cal?), grava and polvo. I have the same video of the concrete mixing. :) What an amazing SCALE though! What a grand home!
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Working Gringos 17 years ago
Kim,
Five of the nine rooms will have air conditioning, but the house is designed to take advantage of the cool northerly breezes, as well. We put our bedrooms on the second floor with this fact especially in mind.
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Working Gringos 17 years ago
Grant and Kim,
Sometimes they do use cement mixers for large pours, but they are rented. In general, labor here is less expensive than renting and powering a cement mixer, and most of the cement is mixed in small batches for differnt purposes and immediately applied by hand. Did you notice in the video that one guy was skimming the milkly cement off the top to use as the rich, while another was using the same batch to make some mortar? Multiple tasks are performed step-wise by teams of two or three that mix their own as needed, so we doubt a single cement mixer would be very practical. The rest is tradition, we guess.
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Hurricane Dave 17 years ago
Great Video! I've been a Contractor in Southern California most of my professional life, so it was great to see their means and methods of building. My wife and I hope to be moving the Yucatan after my son graduates high school next year! By the way love the new look of YucatanLiving!!!
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Kim G. 17 years ago
I'd have to echo Grant's amazement at the amount of physical labor involved. I too wondered why they at least don't have a cement mixer. Not only would it raise productivity, but it'd probably provide a better-mixed product too. And goodness, I was watching those guys hoisting the cinder blocks up to make your expansive roof. Man! Those guys are small but tough! I don't think I could probably hoist more than a dozen or so blocks before calling it a day.
Looks like your house will be absolutely lovely. How are you going to cool it?
Regards,
Kim G
Boston, MA
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Vanessa 17 years ago
wow you are building a mansion! i love the archs. i miss Merida. i was born and raised there. now i live in L.A. but not for long . la cohinita pibil is calling out my name. thanks for this fantastic website
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Claudette 17 years ago
Your home is coming along beautifully! I cannot wait to see the finished product. I'm writing because I just learned that your neighbors Ivan and Paula of Merida homes were featured on HGTV's International house hunters show. Do you know anything about this? I would love to read an article about it and if possible see the actual show. Since you are posting more videos these days, this may be an excellent one to post. I missed that episode and the HGTV website does not mention any future showings either.
I hope to soon experience the same remodeling process as you are now. Our goal is to move there as soon we can. In the meantime, I'll have to settle with your awesome articles, pictures and videos.
Claudette
Dallas, Texas
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