Wiring The Patio

Things are progressing a bit with the patio roof. The other night the electrician came and put in some lights. We had one outside light already but he added 4 more. It is now bright enough to read out there at night with all the lights. Very nice. The landlord had already purchased 3 energy efficient light bulbs and we had one extra one here, so all lights are operational.

The electrician had marked where the plug ins would go, so yesterday a fellow came and cut out the channels for them. He put in the pipe to run the wires through and then cemented them in also. It will be nice when the plug ins are functional, it will mean no more running an extension cord from inside the house to the washing machine. It will be much easier.

Things are coming along.

Now we wait for the men to return to put the cover coat and smooth coat of cement on the roof, when that is done the tile can be put on the floor. It is coming poco a poco (little by little).

UPDATE: The electrician came back this morning and hooked up the plug ins, so all is working now. Yipee!!

Patio Roof Update

Yesterday the fellow that had rented the wood to Ciro arrived with another worker and they removed most of the forms from the patio roof. They took away one load of wood and are supposed to return today for the rest.
The roof is not finished, it still needs the smooth coat of concrete on the inside roof area and also the electrician needs to come to do the wiring; but we have a roof. We sat outside in the shade yesterday afternoon and enjoyed it. I think we will use the patio much more now that we have shade in the afternoon. It still gets the morning sun so the plants should be fine. We are thinking that it will also cut down on our air conditioning use in the summertime as we will be shaded from the strong afternoon sun which will help.

Pouring The Cement On The Roof

The cement trucks were supposed to come at 9 AM this morning. About 9:20 AM the hose truck pulled up and set up. Shortly after the cement truck also showed up. They set up and got ready and soon were pouring cement. Didn't take long to do it and then they cleaned up and left. I asked the landlord how much cement was needed and he said 5.5 cubic meters. Mission accomplished.

Hose truck.

Cement truck.

The arm from the hose truck.

The two trucks combined.

Everyone is in place and ready to go.

Let the fun begin.

More On The Patio Roof

The concrete truck was supposed to come today; but they have put it off until tomorrow as they are not quite ready.
This morning a CFE (electric company) picker truck pulled up and put some coverings over the power lines. I guess to provide protection from the cement truck hose.
A fellow also showed up and put some hoses and electric box connections on the roof so that the wires for lights, etc. can be run after without chipping away the cement.
Other than that the guys are just doing the last things necessary before getting the cement tomorrow.
It has/is snowing north of us in Arizona and it is cold, cloudy and windy here today. It is only 17 C. right now at 10:30 AM or so, and that is cold for us. We did see a rainbow though and had about 10 sprinkles of rain.

Patio Roof Progress

On Saturday a man arrived with some more wood for the forms. I asked the landlord if the wood was rented as most of it was obviously not new. He said that yes, it was rented. Thumbs up to that.
I had to laugh at the delivery mans truck though. It was definately a working truck. It was very beat up and had dents on the dents. The drivers side door had no handle and he just pulled it open. Both lights on the back end are broken out. When he went to start it he stuck 2 wires together, it started no problem and away he went. He brought 3 loads and the men began working.

This is the progress as of Saturday night. They have part of the boards and supports up for the roof.

Looks like a mess, doesn't it?

El Jefe on the job Sunday morning, with his coffee and a cinnamon bun lol.

Sundays progress. Can you say "maze"?

They quit work fairly early on Sunday and returned to Obregon. They are supposed to be back today to put on the finishing touches before the concrete comes on Tuesday. They said that they are getting a cement truck in and pouring it all at once. Wow, that is surprising. We will see what happens today and tomorrow.

Patio Roof

When we moved from the downstairs apartment to the upstairs apartment in August of 2006 there was lots of talk about putting a roof over the patio and also tiling the patio floor. Well since then nothing has happened. It has been talked about several times over the last couple of years; but no construction had ever started. Several times the landlord discussed the difficulty of finding workers because of the construction boom in Miramar and San Carlos.

Last weekend a worker showed up and began to build the supports for the roof, when the weekend ended he left to return to Obregon and nothing happened all week. This last Saturday he returned again along with Luis, the fellow who originally worked on the construction of the apartment. They began working and finished constructing the support forms and the header beams, getting them ready for the concrete to be poured. They worked Saturday and part of Sunday and then returned to Obregon for the week. This will be a slow process; but at least it has started.


Before.

Work has started.

Close up.