Guanajuato (Mexico) house adventure

Operation sofa (and armchair)

2006-12-25T17:19:00.000-08:00

Finding the sofa and armchair at Sears in Leon, an hour away by (a friend's) car was only the first step. We received a courtesy call a week later to say they would be delivering the next day. We really had no worries about how we were going to get them up to our "sky room" because Maestro loves a challenge. Sure enough, he rose to this one.

Here's Juan with the sofa at ground level.

Unseen here, Rafael is hauling on one rope, Maestro (right) on the other, while Juan helps it clear their temporary staging.

OK, now we're at roof level. Next up is to get the sofa up and over the sky room, right.

Lowering it down the far side of our sky room, where we have our wide sliding door for access. That's the dome of San Francisco in the background.

After all that, getting the armchair up (here being hauled up to the roof of the skyroom with Louisa looking on, left) was a snap.

View from La Pipila--before painting

2006-12-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Off it comes

2006-11-29T14:42:00.000-08:00

With work on our azotea (roof) room nearly finished, the next big project is to remove the old roof above what will be an indoor patio open to the skies. First off is to get rid of the rotten little cover (with the red metal door) to the top of the steep stairs--I was so glad to see it go, before it collapsed. Now maestro Don Gerado and Juan are finishing the job, taking off the roof next to it, so now we're trusting that it won't rain--not too hard, anyway--before they have a chance to install a new drain below. Photos show before and after.

Views from our new roof room

2006-11-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

Looking west through what will be sliding glass door to terrace

Door opening in center

La Bufa to the east, through what will be window above our bed

Looking north towards La Sirena and El Meco hills

Roof studio-bedroom

2006-11-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, downstairs...

2006-10-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

Really small upstairs bathroom!

2006-10-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

Upstairs kitchen 3, new window

2006-10-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

Upstairs kitchen 2

2006-10-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

Upstairs kitchen 1

2006-10-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

Future bedroom/studio on roof

2006-10-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

Maestro Don Gerado, roof room floor

2006-10-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hector unloading bricks on roof

2006-10-09T07:08:00.001-07:00

Juan hauling bricks to the roof

2006-10-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Callejon nearly finished, ours is pink house on right

2006-10-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

Any color you like...

2006-09-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

...as long as it's salmon (the city painted the outside of our house, part of their beautification project. No, we didn't have a choice of color!

Also here (photos from Tom last week): vanity sink outline in our upstairs bathroom (toilet will be on the left, shower on the right, but most of the time we'll be able to look right out of the window): and azulejos starting to make our upstairs kitchen look like the real thing.

Unexpected bonus

2006-08-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

An unexpected bonus: Guanajuato greenstone (actually a laminated sandstone) is turning up everywhere. David had the albaniles check under the plaster at the top of the stairs...

...and there it is, back in the light where it belongs. (Thanks for the photo, Tom!)
Wonder how much more is waiting to be uncovered?

Still moving along...

2006-08-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

...even when we're not there.
Tom just sent us these three photos, of the new baldosa ceiling of the "reja" room (next to the new upstairs cocina); the entranceway brick arch, now that the plaster has been removed; and the main countertop area in the new cocina.

Story of a window

2006-08-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is what we started with, a typical Mexican window--small and high (and usually with drawn curtains).

Starting the process of opening it up--after pouring a reinforced concrete header beam, the albaniles cut through half the 16-inch thick adobe wall.

The opening's all the way through, awaiting finishing.

Plaster finishes the edges. Now we're awaiting the window frame. The inclined channel below the opening will house the drain from the sink.

Happy hour

2006-07-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Maestro Geraldo, albaniles Hector and Juan, student Juan-Angel, and Louisa

Friday a las cinco de la tarde (5pm) is happy hour here, the guys finish a bit early and we sit around drinking beer and hearing (last night) about Hector's two attempts to gain access into the U.S., swimming across the Rio Grande. We shuddered.

Up on the roof

2006-07-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

Sure enough, just as David promised, it poured last night, right after the guys had removed most of the rotten roof. Now they're in the process of moving the water tank so they can take care of the rest of it.

Mexican houses generally have these 750 liter black tanks (photo above) on their roofs, since the pressure and flow from the city water system is very low. Water trickles in during the night, and you have the tank capacity to get you through the day (at least).

El equipo (the team)

2006-07-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Arquitecto (architect) David with two of los albaniles, Hector and Juan, planning the next stage of our project...

...dismantling the rotten roof, to be replaced with a concrete one.

Our maestro, Geraldo, offers a considered opinion from his perch.

While we're at it, why not take out the door frame now? Make it easier to get rid of the escombro (rubble) from the old roof.

Local Home Depot

2006-07-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

aka Ferretería La Sultana

Antonio seems to have everything to hand in his neighborhood hardware store.

Zona de construcción

2006-07-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Right outside our house. Not just on Calzada de Tecolote, but it seems everywhere in the city...

Apparently, Guanajuato received a large use-it-or-lose-it UNESCO grant (it's one of Mexico's several "Patrimonio de la Humanidad"--that is, World Heritage-- sites) and has to spend it in the next few months.

Night view from our back window

2006-07-21T18:25:00.000-07:00