Too hot to work

Today is 93 and feels like 114 degrees F - at 1pm

I started the impermeabilizante sometime last week on the drainage trough between me and my neighbor. I had already used sealer and I put the impermeabilizante down with Tela (fiberglass like material). That was easy and mostly in the shade. Only had to worry about falling into my neighbors yard.

Saturday I did a large section of the roof towards the front of the house and must have overheated because Sunday and Monday I was exhausted. Today feeling refreshed I got working at 8:30 and did the first section. No shade but not nearly as hot as early afternoons have been. The back section was in shade until 10:30 but I still left some for tomorrow. 

This heat reminds my of driving through Texas on my way back from Florida in my van with no air conditioning. Had a cooler between the seats and a wet cold towel over my head. Gonna have to have better sun protection next time. It didn't help that Sunday was the Summer Solstice 

Sloped drainage

First section

Starting the back section in shade

Even with the laundry room - the rest tomorrow

Necessary improvments

My front sidewalk was in need of some help. Not that it wasn't well built but we just didn't think of everything. Three downspouts dump water on it causing erosion, ants build caves under it, chickens excavate the edges looking for bugs .... and then there's the kids who like the sidewalk and the dirt in front of it. I told Hugo generally what I wanted and let him make the design decisions. I like what he came up with. A little more on the driveway to go.

Then there is my north wall.  Because someday (maybe never) there will be a house up against that wall I didn't worry too much about the stucco and it is pretty sloppy and very ruff. I also cut corners on properly sealing and painting it. Shoe had a couple 5 gallon buckets of cheap paint that was old so I mixed that with a little sealer and some decent paint but not semi-gloss. I'll only paint with semi-gloss from now on.  

So I figured I'd clean it up, primer a few areas and let Hugo go at it with a roller. Turns out I have wire brushed and/or cleaned with Clorox almost the whole wall. Also it's so ruff that doing a good job with a roller is almost impossible and you can't see your holidays 10-12 feet above you.  I will end up painting that whole 20x4 meter wall with a brush. Plenty of other painting for Hugo.

The second sidewalk

North wall mostly painted - sealed the bottom section today

20 meters by 4 high

Third floor view

I don't remember taking any fotos from the third floor so when I was up working on the tinaco I took a few more. The first is looking north across the valley with 3 flowering trees in the foreground. A yellow Primavera, a pink Rosa Morada and in front a Nance (Nancy).

The second is looking down of the yard, palapa, the famous new pool and the house roof showing patches of impermeabilizante and fiber on areas that were starting to weather.

The bottom is the new tile on the stairs that I had Hugo install last week. The bathroom below the stairs had some water damage that may have been seepage from above. Now to get some clear sealer and paint it all. I originally thought to cover that space on the stairs with painted talavera tiles but I had these left over from the house. It's nice and clean.

Looking north

The yard

New tile on stairs

Tinaco work

I tried to find pictures of the way these tinaco bases were made but maybe peculiar to this area or my builders. Anyway, they build a ring of bricks on the roof surface about 3 high, stucco it and fill with sand. The problem with that is water seeps into the sand from rain or an overflowing tinaco (broken float valve). My lower tinaco was causing water to come out between the original roof and the flat tiles above it so I knew it had to be seeping thru the sand. The last thing you want it trapped moisture on cement.

My solution was to seal the space between the tank and the base with impermeabilizante and fiber material. About 2 inches up the tank, the flat area and down the side of the base. I eventually did the whole roof of the lower tinaco and just started the process on my upper one. It's all part of getting ready for the rainy season and luckily a broken float valve alerted me to it in the dry season.

The upper tan tinaco base sealed

Lower tinaco with whole roof sealed

Upper tinaco - just an interesting foto