29 March 13 Roof

Metal roof blends in with the sky, but it's there on the left; the other side is done

Here's the view from the RFIS side of the wall.  Trusses are in place, and the guys are nailing in the metal roofing!

View from just inside the wall

Besides the roof being completed, the security bars and window frames are in, railing on the stairs, and outside wall getting plastered.

View of the roofing work from the upper floor

While I was looking up at the completed side of the roof, I suddenly got the feeling Doc Oc (from Spiderman 2) was lurking behind one of the walls!

They tell me it's electrical stuff... I still say it looks like Doc Oc

On the veranda level scaffolding is up where the guys are throwing concrete on the outside walls - a splatted layer of concrete that will give the outside plaster layer something to grab on to.

Veranda with stairway railing completed

Now for the challenge questions... How do we screen in this veranda AND keep the mosquitoes from coming up through the stairway?  Any ideas?  Cuz the bottom of these stairs is open to the out of doors.

March 11 Raise the Rafters at the Duplex!

The rafters for the roof went up on March 11.
From the RFIS side of the wall it looks like this...

And inside the door in the wall, turn left for this side view...

Besides the rafters, notice the metal railing on the stairs!

Foreman Johannes directs the daily work.  He is an excellent builder!  His daughter is a student at Rain Forest Int'l School (RFIS), and his wife cooks food the construction workers can buy for lunch.

Johannes makes sure the rafter is centered before it's raised in place

Up she goes!

Heard on the site that day: - "un, deux, trois, GO!"
- "No, no, no c'est trop! Go bahk"
How's that for Franglais.

pushing the rafter a tad over to center it correctly

A guy's gotta be pretty confident of a job well done to rest in that position!

Now that the rains have begun, it's important to get this roof up and keep our bedrooms from turning to pools of mud!   Thankful for an excellent safety record - still no major injuries on the construction site.

23 Feb 2nd Floor Progress

As of the 23 Feb this is what the duplex looks like.  I have barely had time to take pictures, let alone post them!  Sorry for the delay.  Not much looks different on the outside.  From now on, the major changes will be on the inside... until the roof goes on.

End view

Front view

Do you notice that there are bars in the lower front windows?  Window frames are going in -- with security bars built into them.

Looking out the window on the end wall facing the green door in the wall between the duplex and RFIS

When you enter the front door, and turn around, this is what you see -- the door you came through on the left and the stairway up to the bedrooms on upper level at the right.

Front entrance (left) and inside stairway (right)

Pivot left to enter an office.  The view out the office window is very peaceful.  The veranda is out the right (front of the house) window.

Office windows - view to the veranda (right) and the forest (left)

Then from that entrance/stairway point, turn around, as if you're continuing on from the entrance, and you come to the living room / dining room area.

Looking out the back corner of the building through living room windows

Now pivot again left and you can look into the kitchen, through a common room, shared with the other side of the duplex, through the kitchen, dining room and living room through the windows of the other side of the duplex!

Kitchen - see the drain pipe under the window?

I know, right now it looks like just grey concrete and mess -- which it is, but it is begining to take shape!