Connected

While the major accomplishment of the past two weeks was pouring the deck and connecting the two wings, the real story was lack of progress.  No doubt we did get some things done, but we had 2 rain days and 2.5 “holiday” days in the past two weeks.  Here in St. Croix, Good Friday and Easter Monday are both holidays, plus most of the guys knocked off early on Thursday.  I don’t begrudge the guys their holidays, but the rain has been a bit frustrating.

As mentioned, we poured the deck last Monday.  With that complete it really feels like we are going to knock out the rest of the shell fairly quickly.  The columns started going up shortly after the deck was finished and the the footers for the main living area were dug today.  The roofers have finished the office and guest bedroom roofs and are now beginning work on the flat roofs around the office and over the deck, which will sit on the columns.

 

4/14/2011 - Prepping the pool steps and bench

4/14/2011 - Prepping the pool steps and bench

4/14/2011 - Office roof work

4/14/2011 - Office roof work

4/15/2011 - Electrical inspection complete

4/15/2011 - Electrical inspection complete

4/18/2011 - Pouring pool steps

4/18/2011 - Pouring pool steps

4/18/2011 - Pouring deck

4/18/2011 - Pouring deck

4/18/2011 - Pouring deck

4/18/2011 - Pouring deck

4/18/2011 - Pouring deck

4/18/2011 - Pouring deck

4/18/2011 - More materials arrived from Florida

4/18/2011 - More materials arrived from Florida

4/19/2011 - Deck pour complete

4/19/2011 - Deck pour complete

4/19/2011 - Deck pour complete

4/19/2011 - Deck pour complete

4/19/2011 - Completed pool steps and bench

4/19/2011 - Completed pool steps and bench

4/19/2011 - Completed deck steps

4/19/2011 - Completed deck steps

4/19/2011 - Column work has started

4/19/2011 - Column work has started

4/20/2011 - Column work complete, more rain

4/26/2011 - Column work complete, more rain

4/27/2011 - Footers for main living area

4/27/2011 - Footers for main living area

4/27/2011 - Footers for main living area

4/27/2011 - Footers for main living area

4/27/2011 - Deck flat roof work begins

4/27/2011 - Deck flat roof work begins

4/27/2011 - Where we are today

4/27/2011 - Where we are today

5 baby chicks that we are feeding in our driveway (at the rental)

5 baby chicks that we are feeding in our driveway (at the rental)

 

Spring Rain

Since our blog audience is growing I feel more obligated to get a post up every two weeks at a minimum.  So here you are.  The rain came and wiped out 2.5- 3 days of work, so progress has been slowed.  This is generally a drier time of year, but not so the past two weeks.

We only had one small concrete pour which was a support wall for the deck.  I continue to get requests from my builder like “we need aluminum drip-edge for the roof this morning”, I then get it, and it sits at the site for two weeks without being touched.  The drip-edge is still not up.  This has happened with several items.

Domus Windows from Antigua met with us last week.  We are leaning towards buying our PVC windows and doors from them.  Their pricing beats PVC Windoors out of Miami by a substantial margin.  We need to make a decision within the next few days.  We have somewhere around 40 windows and french doors so this is a substantial part of our budget.

I continue to work with Caribbean Building Supply out of Miami to get materials to St. Croix.  Last week we had a slight goof-up in which my materials didn’t make it onto the CaribTrans boat.  Both companies blamed each other but with the rain we had the week delay in shipping shouldn’t delay construction.

The rafters were completed for the office and guest bedroom roofs last week.  Painting was finished on them today.  Over the past two weekends we sanded and stained another 110 cypress boards which will start going up tomorrow.

The the most visible work that has gone on over the past two weeks is the framing  ofthe deck and getting the rebar in.  They are also working on the deck steps, pool steps, and steps to the electrical room below the master bath.  We are scheduled to pour these items on Friday. Fingers crossed.

I am posting the photos in a slightly different manner.  When you click on a photo there will be arrows at the bottom to move to the next or previous photo.