Costalegre Jalisco Mexico

OK Sparks, YOU yave a house going up and you have not posted any pictures. I htink it is time to start. The lots have been cleared and the foundation is moving along so get going.

BTW: How come I have not seen you digging out there? You retired?

cya,
shoe

I`ve been both busy and trying to figure out how to make a web page of the whole process without boring people with too many details.

As for the digging .... my back went out yesterday morning doing just that. Been in a bit of pain since

Clearing the lots with a backhoe
http://sparks-mexico.com/Assorted/house ... /index.htm


Digging the foundation
http://sparks-mexico.com/Assorted/house ... /index.htm

A block away is the beginning of farm land

Building the foundation
http://sparks-mexico.com/Assorted/house ... /index.htm

If anyone is really interested in price breakdowns of material, labor and permits I'll put something together. Otherwise I'll wait for a more coordinated web page

Sounds good. I will look for the new page tomorrow.

cya,
shoe

Mañana o mañana

Well the latest is after a weeks work the albaniel tells me he has to finish another project in Agua Caliente and needs a week off. I hear the following day from Mari he needs two weeks off ... and he wants more money when he comes back.

So now the helper is the new albaniel and Mari's son is the helper. I was out there today and they advised me to add castillos (support columns) because 5 meters is too much of a span. Usually castillos are placed every 3-4 meters especially if anything heavy is going on the second floor - including a tinaco (water tank). This means we'll have to knockout the existing foundations down the center-line of the house to add 5 columns.

We also changed the bathroom locations to the front of the rooms so they can have windows. I can't imagine a bath without ventilation and making a vent in the ceiling sounds way too difficult and would interfere with anything on the second floor.

So as you can see I'm new at this, don't plan on an architect and will work it out the best I can as it goes along. Who knows how many of you will try to build this way but it might be a help to someone

Now to see if these two guys are the right ones !!

Shoe has been getting after me to post some more fotos and talk about progress so here is some stuff from last week.

Our first albaniel turned out to be fast but very little thought was going into what he was doing. There were not enough support columns (castillos) for our spans and bathrooms were not planned. We added 7 new columns - 5 down the middle and two on either side of the large front room.

The bottom foto is of the reinforced 'header' (dala) that goes above the block, the top of which will be the floor level. I rented the wood for forms but will buy some next time as we'll use them multiple times.

This is this week - week three. They finished up the dalas and added foundation walls and dalas for three bathrooms. We then needed fill inside the foundation to put the slab on. They couldn't find anyone they knew that would deliver so I went out yesterday and talked to a guy on the carretera. He was a little vague at first when he could do it but showed up an hour later with his 'tractor'. He leveled out and moved what dirt we had into the house and a half hour later the BIG truck showed up - three loads total.

The dirt (arena) is from Aguacate and looks like sand but has clay in it that compacts well. There are a few large pieces in it that are cement stone like but break up easily. This stuff is what is normally used below a slab.

We ended up with about a 1/2 truck extra and will have to use it elsewhere. Can't spread it out over the yard as it will make terrible soil for a garden. 3 truck loads and the tractor for half a day was $2500 pesos.

Here's some prices

Ejido transfer costs when buying the lots - $2500 pesos (based on lot size only - w/without a house)
Taxes with no receipts for last 5 years - $500 pesos (100 pesos a year)
Permission to connect to city water - 1200 pesos

Cleaning lot and cutting trees - $1400 (1 guy 4 days)
Removing stumps and cutting footings - $3000 (backhoe and truck - 1.5 days)
Install agua from street - $1200 (includes fittings, hose and the ditch)
Bring in fill for the foundation - $2500

Pay per week for albanil and helper - $3500

1000 cement block - 2800 pesos (used 2000)
1000 Large red brick for walls - 2400 pesos (same size as cement block - may use 6-8000)
Lots of other odds and ends I haven't counted yet

Here's the extent of a web page with some info and more fotos
http://sparks-mexico.com/Assorted/house ... /index.htm

Who'd have thought that finding brick would be an issue. Today we wandered the country side looking for large red brick. We finally found a place that makes it behind Barra (by the cemetery). The smaller brick is more common or cement block .... but these large ones not so easy to find. There are a couple of trucks that come up from Tecoman and park along the highway in Jaluco ... but they have not been around lately and want $2800 per 1000. We ended up with a supplier in Barra (Jalisco Materiales) that had 2000 bricks for $2500 per 1000 and delivered. Chuy knows a guy in Pinal that sells for $2400 but he had none.

Now we will buy when it's available and not just when we need it

why donja get rolly down ta hep ya-jeje!

I got tired of not having the family make connections they said they had to help us get the permission papers to build. Finally went down to Cihuatlan on my own, took in the papers for the lot and a sketch I had drawn and found the architect in the Municipio building that creates a legal drawing on computer. No problems and came back a few days later to make copies of the plan and submit for approval. Plans cost $1200 pesos and 4 copies $100

Next week we go in to pay for the permit and find out where Seguro is to start IMSS coverage for the workers. Don't yet know about permit cost or Seguro

The house is actually a little further along than this today - but the latest I have

Finally got permission papers and based on more or less 100 sq meters the cost was $3500 pesos. Actually got two receipts and am unclear what each is. They also estimate the cost of construction and ours was about $220,000 pesos. Hard to say what that estimate is based on, how current their figures or quality of completion .... but certainly much less than the average contractor/architect would charge.

First level of bricks finished this week and they are on to the rebar work for the cement dala that circles the house and interior walls

Now to find Seguro (IMSS)