May 30, 2009: Finally....a Plan!

Below is the side that faces the oceanThe Inland Side

Bottom Floor

Top Floor:


The next step is to computerize it in 1/4 scale. Should be done in two weeks.

Up to Date Pictures

These were taken on out last trip in October 2008:

Guest House View

Garage and Carport

Guest House and Garage

Guest House

Disecting a House Plan

The most difficult part about building a home has to be working with the architect. We thought there was an art to it that we were unable to figure out, but we would soon discover the art was in picking the right architect. We've worked with three different individuals; none could come up with a design that fit our needs. The plans weren't that bad, but the architect either didn't listen, didn’t understand, or we just couldn't get our ideas across to them. For some reason we couldn't get any of them moving in the right direction.

Each plan looked exciting at first glance, but one thing we've learned is not to get excited about a design until we go home and "live" in the it for a while. Living and building in a remote area of Mexico is quite different than in the U.S., or more urban area of Mexico. For every artsy architectural feature we have to figure out if it's possible to obtain the materials in Mexico, or do they have to be imported and most important, can the builder build it? If materials have to be imported, how do we transport them 850 miles south of the border, in one piece, over roads used for the Baja 1000? How will it hold up in a hurricane? How long will it last in the heat, or salt air?

Blowing dust and sand are another problem. At least 5 or 6 days a month winds blow well over 25 knots. Sand blows into every hidden patio area; dust collects on every exposed shelf and chokes window screens. Design is partially dictated by how difficult it will be to keep the house somewhat clean. Will sand and dust collect in that corner? How much floor space are we willing to constantly sweep and mop? How many windows are necessary to allow view and ventilation while decreasing the need to clean dust choked screens. There's a lot of details to be discovered after looking at the plan for a while.

Changing architects is expensive; changing architects three times is really expensive. With no viable plan, we were just about to give up and build a box. As a last ditch effort, I ask the city-planning department where I work to recommend an architect. My boss, who lives and works for the city, recommended a guy named Marshall Innins. As it turns out, the art of working with an architect is picking the RIGHT ARCHITECT.

October 2008: Some Progress

Somewhat due to the heat and partially because we we're just having too much fun, we really didn't accomplish much on this trip.

We finished the bathroom counter and tile but a few mistakes are visible in the picture above. Should have caught it in the drawings. The light socket should be centered over the mirror and the switch/outlet should have been on the right wall, out of the way so the mirror could extend the full width of the counter. At least the bathroom mirror made it down in one piece.

We finished the tile and installed the sink, but forgot supply hoses for the bathroom faucet. The locals plumb PVC pipe directly from the wall to the faucet with no valve, I guess that would work fine, but just doesn't seem right...even with a valve. Looks like the bathroom sink will be dry until next visit.

We also started work on the outside shower wall and kitchen pantry but didn't get too far before we had to leave:

October 2008: Norbert....Go Away!

Well...we've been back for over two weeks now and have accomplished very little. Usually this time of year the weather is pretty mild, 80's during the day and cool at night. This year it's been mostly in the low to mid 90's with 65 to 75% humidity. Not a very good working environment.

For the last two days we've been preparing for Hurricane Norbert. Looks like we'll be at least 100 miles from the eye which won't be too bad; however this is one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the Baja Peninsula so we're getting ready in case the track changes, which will make for a whole different scenario.


Fortunately this is as close as Norbert got. We could see the heavy rains in the cloud band just offshore for most of the morning along with a strong wind line on the horizon. The worst weather we received was a moderate breeze in the afternoon.

End of a Trip

As we ready to head north, a shrimp boat finishes a long night of work:

A someday side trip on the road home. This road leads to the geothermal plant at the base of Volcan Tres Virgenes. Someday we'd like to take this road and see it.

Vulcan Tres Virgenes:

On the way home we discovered a huge hardware/furniture/appliance store in a small town called Vizcaino. Wish we would have found this earlier. They have some cool cabinets that would have looked much more "authentic" than the Home Depot cabinets we bought. Live and learn. At least when we build the house we'll have more time to shop around for cool stuff.

Containing the Dust

The dirt has the consistency of baby powder. The slightest wind blows it everywhere. We ordered two truck loads of this heavy sand/gravel to cover the loose dirt until we can design and build our landscaping. The next day we had 25 knot winds. It worked pretty well, much less dirt to sweep off the porch and out of the house after the winds subsided.

Design Flaw

When calculating the wire and circuit breaker sizes for the solar panels, I neglected to add the amperage of the panels properly (fortunately I didn't make the same mistake when calculating wire size). The result was circut breakers that were too small for the solar panels. This hadn't been a problem in the past because we never drained the batteries too much. This trip we had a lot of cloudy days. When the sun finally came out, and the draw on the panels was at maximum, the breakers kept popping. It took me a few days to figure out the problem. I had to disconnect half the panels in each string until we can get the proper size circuit breakers (of course, not available in Mexico). Even with half the energy production, we really didn't do that bad. Had to use the generator for tools though.

Also, the charge controller for the batteries had a bad cooling fan. I ordered a new fan before we left home. With instructions from the manufacturer, I disassembled this complicated (and crucial) part of the system. After a very nervous bit of repair work, I reinstalled it... and all was well. Whew!

Room With a View

We moved the camper over to the house site and stood on the roof to get a rough idea of the view from the upstairs deck of the main house:

We still don't have a workable plan...but someday?

Bureaucracy

In Mexico the first 20 meters from the high tide line is federal land - open to public use. No one can own it, but it's possible to get a concession (lease) as long as you don't impede public use. We really didn't want to deal with the hassles of getting a concession, but if we gave up our rights to it (as owners of the adjacent land) someone else could get the concession and build some commercial venture in front of us.

We applied for the concession over two years ago. For the last 8 months we've had people checking in the local office, trying to find where it was hung up. Our attorney went to Mexico City (on unrelated business) this week and checked there. It's been sitting on a desk in Mexico City because it was missing some photos. That's how it works here. You don't get a letter informing you that something's wrong. It sits on a desk (somewhere unknown) until you figure out there's a problem, track it down and take care of it yourself.

Update January 2009: Finally got the Federal Zone concession. Kinda anticlimactic as there's nothing we can do with it other than keep someone else from owning it.

First Attempt at Laying Tile

Bathroom tile is nearly done.

A little more grout clean up/sealing and we're ready to install the sink

There's a Ballena in the Garage

This afternoon, we were standing near the garage talking to Cano (the water truck guy) while his truck was filling our tank. Cano suddenly became quiet just before excitedly saying, "mira...ballena" (look...a whale). We naturally looked to the ocean but saw nothing, he was pointing inland toward the garage. We had no idea what he was talking about. Cano walked to the garage support post and pointed to a rock. "Mira Ballena". It looks exactly like a quart bottle of beer, or what they call a "ballena"

What we saw:

What he Saw:

February 15, 2008: Crooked Walls and no Materials

The pantry won't get finished this trip. Hopefully we can get a drywall delivery to coincide with our next trip. I'll place the order before we leave the U.S. next time. We still have to finish hanging drywall in the inside and do the finish coat on the outside.

The walls were so crooked I had to decide if I should square the pantry with the back wall and have convex shaped shelves, or crooked with the side wall and have easier to make squared shelves. Unfortunately it looked wrong squared to the side wall, now it'll be fun cutting out odd shaped shelves.

February 12, 2008

Today its foggy. This is pretty unusual for here

Yesterday we added more structure to the pantry. The sheets of drywall aren't in the best condition after being transported over the long washboard road. I need to make a lot of cosmetic fixes with the mud.

We ordered more sheets of drywall but they never showed up. We only have enough to do the exterior of the cabinets this trip. The interior and shelves will have to wait until next time. We'll also need to get a second set doors for the right side. The 30" doors we brought were too big.

Well...the bathroom backsplash isn't in yet. For the last few days Cindy's been trying to figure out a pattern for the tile and some shells. Today she called in some expert help:

We also installed a new water heater. The first one had an electronic ignition. Sounded like a good idea to save gas by not having a pilot. The ignitors just didn't last in this environment. The new one has a simple pilot light. Works much better.

Sunrise Feb 10, 2008

Todays Sunrise:

Later in the day:

February 10, 2008

Sunrise:

We started on the pantry after paddleboarding. This is how we keep are arms in shape for surfing during the flat spells:

February 8, 2008...Whales

This year the whales have been scarce. We usually see at least 4 or 5 plus a day. So far this trip we've seen 6 or 8 total.

Here's one that passed by yesterday:



We received the second draft of the house plan but it's not really what we're looking for. We have some definite ideas of what we want, but for some reason we can't seem to get that across to the architect. Below is what the second attempt looks like:

Well...we'll give it another go with a bit more direction.

This is about where the main house will be. The picture is taken from the left side of the Casita porch.

Cindy checking out the potential views:

February 2008

We're finally back in Mexico. First job was to paint the metal gates. It's amazing how fast they rust in the salt air.

Some of the plants in the garden are doing really well, some not so much. We've lost a few palm starts, but the rest look like they're going to be fine. We're trying to make sure that our final landscaping plan uses less than 1200 gallons of water a month since it has to be trucked in. Right now we're using about 175.

Finally a little color:

December 2007

The architect had some good ideas, but it's back to the drawing board. Some of the concepts are good, but it's way too big and doesn't really fit in with the local environment. The rooms need to be located differently to maximize the views. Initially we didn't want to give him too much direction and miss the opportunity to come up with something unique. This design was unique all right, but not quite what we had in mind. Now we'll send pictures from books, magazines and the Internet to give him a better idea of what we're looking for along with a little more direction on design.

November 2007

Not much going on, we're waiting to see the preliminary plans for the main house. Our architect is coming out over Thanksgiving to go over them with to us. Here's a cool google overlay of the lot he sent while we were trying to nail down some some existing dimensions on the property.

Below is a view from the neighbors house

September 19, 2007

This week an architect we plan to use came down to view the property. We hope to have some preliminary drawings for the main house by Thanksgiving. (addendum: We don't use this guy and certainly won't have plans by Thanksgiving. The architect saga begins...)

On our last day here we put this shell next to the patio to help cut down the blowing dust. It's going to be quite a while before have enough hardscape to get it under control.

Unfortunately we had to go, but one of the highlights of the drive home is staying at one of our favorite beaches on the Sea or Cortez:

Visitors

After filleting our fish, we toss the remains over the cliff onto the beach. These guys show up and finish them off.

We used to have a lot of these at the old house, maybe when we have a better garden more will come by.

This guy was hiding behind a sheet of plywood

This one was on the patio

These are everywhere. I had one try to crawl up my leg while using the surf shower!