Rain, rain, and oh yeah, more rain

I considered only posting photos from my trip to LA and Dallas last week since more was accomplished there than here, but I will give you a few “progress” photos.  Since my last post on April 28th we have managed to pour the support walls for the main living area, get the framing for the interior walls completed in the master and office wings, and get the rafters up for part of the deck roof.  That is basically all that has been accomplished in the past 3 weeks.  In late April and early May we had a couple of 1/2 day rains and maybe one full day where the guys couldn’t work.  For the past 9 days it has rained every day with Saturday’s monsoon bringing 7 inches of rain to parts of the island in about 2 hours.   We unfortunately are at a step where we need to use heavy equipment to move dirt around so that we can get the floor of the living area formed and poured and that can’t be done in swamp like conditions.  So basically at a standstill since I left for LA on the 5th.  The good news is that the moisture dries relatively quickly here with the constant breeze, if only it would stop raining for a day or two.

Needless to say this month has been extremely frustrating.  Our next shipment of cypress arrived last week (yes, in the pouring rain) and we began sanding and staining those this past weekend.  That will likely consume our next 4 weekends as well.  Fun stuff.

As I sit here and finish up this post, we are getting torrential rain.  Can’t win at the moment.

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Update on 5/19/2011:

Just got this email, figured I would share as it fits in nicely with the timing of this post.

Headline:  Flood Advisory issued May 19 at 9:41AM AST expiring May 19 at 11:45AM AST by NWS San Juan

The National Weather Service In San Juan Has Issued An * Urban And Small Stream Flood Advisory For The Following Island… In The U.S. Virgin Islands Saint Croix * Until 1145 AM AST * At 940 AM AST…Doppler Radar Estimated Very Heavy Rain In The Advisory Area. Showers Are Expected To Continue For At Least Another One Half To One Hour Before A Respite And A Total Of More Than 2 Inches May Fall Before Noon. Excessive Runoff From Will Cause Flooding Of Small Creeks And Guts… And Low Spots In Highways. Additionally…Roads And Land Along The Banks Of Creeks And Streams And Other Low Lying Areas Are Subject To Flooding. Also…Mudslides Are Possible In Areas Of Steep Terrain. Motorists Should Exercise Caution. Most Flood Deaths Occur In Automobiles. Never Drive Your Vehicle Into Areas Where The Water Covers The Roadway. Flood Waters Are Usually Deeper Than They Appear. Just One Foot Of Flowing Water Is Powerful Enough To Sweep Vehicles Off The Road. When Encountering Flooded Roads Make The Smart Choice…Turn Around…Don’t Drown.
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4/28/2011 - Footers poured for main living area

4/28/2011 - Footers poured for main living area

4/29/2011 - Support walls for living area being formed

4/29/2011 - Support walls for living area being formed

4/29/2011 - Deck roof rafters going up

4/29/2011 - Deck roof rafters going up

5/2/2011 - Living Area support walls being formed

5/2/2011 - Living Area support walls being formed

5/3/2011 - Living Area support walls being poured

5/3/2011 - Living Area support walls being poured

5/4/2011 - Interior walls being framed

5/4/2011 - Interior walls being framed

5/4/2011 - Deck rafters complete and being painted

5/4/2011 - Deck rafters complete and being painted

5/4/2011 - Living Area support walls complete

5/4/2011 - Living Area support walls complete

5/13/2011 - Rain has halted the project

5/13/2011 - Rain has halted the project

5/18/2011 - This is the electrical room below the house, there are 7 steps under water

5/18/2011 - This is the electrical room below the house, there are 7 steps under water

5/18/2011 - Deck roof cypress going up between rain storms

5/18/2011 - Deck roof cypress going up between rain storms

5/18/2011 - Deck roof cypress going up between rain storms

5/18/2011 - Deck roof cypress going up between rain storms

Slowing Down?

I have been trying to get a post out for a few days but I just can’t find the time.  I do have quite a bit I want to mention but most will have to wait, 5:45am will be here soon.

It has been a little over two weeks since the last post. Last week I felt that we kind of grinded to a halt.  John had moved part of his crew to another job and it just didn’t feel like anything was moving forward.  It was frustrating, but only for a few days.  This week things started picking back up with a full crew on site.  So back to nearly being positive.

ROOF
The roofers FINALLY finished putting the cypress and plywood on the master section of the house which is about 750-800 sq ft of roof.  It took them 6 days to put up the cypress and 5 days to put on the plywood.  And there was up to 5 of them working on it at one time. Luckily I am not paying them by the hour (well, I guess indirectly I am).  The roof coating started to go on today, which is 4 coats, so who knows how long that will take.  First the seams are patched, then a primer coat is applied, then a “grey” coat, then two final coats of white elastomeric.  We looked into doing the roof in many different ways, but in the end cost was the driving factor.  Quite a few people told us to avoid the standing-seam metal roofs being that close to the water.  That was ruled out early.  We then wanted to add a thermal membrane to keep the heat out, but the $10K estimate to just add the purlins needed to create the space put us off of that.  We then looked into ceramic coatings, but my research seemed to suggest that their wasn’t much to their superior heat blocking claims.

We also spent more time sanding and staining cypress.  Twice we were told we needed this many more boards to finish, and after completing the first batch were subsequently told they would need even more to finish.  I definitely was not happy with the amount of wasted material from the roof.

POOL
We poured the pool over the past few weeks.  That became a bit of a stressful situation due to Emily insisting that we have a swim-jet in the pool.  We were put in a situation of trying to find a vendor that would ship part of a system USPS priority mail and part of it freight.  What we needed immediately were the jets that get poured into the wall.  After quickly ruling out several swim-jet makers (Endless Pools was one) due to price, we settled on tracking down the BaduStream II double jet system.  This wasn’t as easy as it sounds and it was even harder to find somebody that would deal with our shipping requests.  In the end we found a company out of California, that had a warehouse in Florida, that would do what we needed, AND they price-matched a competitor that wouldn’t do the shipping.  The guy was awesome (www.eOutdoorSports.com). They shipped on Thursday with the hope of them arriving Monday. No package Monday.  No package Tuesday. The jets arrived at  lunchtime Wednesday, about an hour before the pool was scheduled to be poured.  John and Louis spent the next 90 minutes getting everything just right while I was running around town looking for 4-inch pvc elbows.

Why did we even go through the hassle of adding a swim-jet you might ask?  Well, one reason is our pool is really small, 10×20. This will give Emily the ability to train for the swimming part of a triathlon.  The second reason is simple, Emily usually gets what she wants. 😉  On to the photos.

3-13-2011 - The Roseway in the distance

3-13-2011 - The Roseway in the distance

3-15-2011 - Preparing pool for pour

3-15-2011 - Preparing pool for pour

 

3-15-2011 - Starting cypress in master

3-15-2011 - Starting cypress in master

 

3-15-2011 - Hallway outside guest room

3-15-2011 - Hallway outside guest room

 

3-16-2011 - Pool slab poured

3-16-2011 - Pool slab poured

 

3-16-2011 - View through guest bath into office from guest bed

3-16-2011 - View through guest bath into office from guest bed

3-16-2011 - Office Window

3-16-2011 - Office Window

3-16-2011 - More sanding and staining, at our rental

3-16-2011 - More sanding and staining, at our rental

3-17-2011 - Forming the laundry room support and powder room support

3-17-2011 - Forming the laundry room support and powder room support, and roofers working on the cypress

 

3-17-2011 - Forming the pool

3-17-2011 - Forming the pool

3-18-2011 - Cypress work continues

3-18-2011 - Cypress work continues

 

3-21-2011 - Cypress almost complete

3-21-2011 - Cypress almost complete

3-22-2011 - View of office from above

3-22-2011 - View of office from above

3-22-2011 - View of pool from above

3-22-2011 - View of pool from above

3-22-2011 - Putting felt on top of the cypress

3-22-2011 - Putting felt on top of the cypress

3-23-2011 - BaduStream swim-jet system

3-23-2011 - BaduStream swim-jet system

3-23-2011 - Pouring the pool

3-23-2011 - Pouring the pool

3-23-2011 - Pouring the pool

3-23-2011 - Pouring the pool

3-24-2011 - Pool pour complete

3-24-2011 - Pool pour complete

3-24-2011 - Kite Surfer from office window

3-24-2011 - Kite Surfer from office window

 

3-24-2011 - Laundry support walls

3-24-2011 - Laundry support walls

3-25-2011 - Concrete floor for small storage area around pool

3-25-2011 - Concrete floor for small storage area around pool

3-24-2011 - Another photo of the kite surfer

3-24-2011 - Another photo of the kite surfer

3-25-2011 - Office visitor

3-25-2011 - Office visitor

Cypress and more Cypress

Our cypress and decking for the master and office areas arrived nearly two weeks ago.  We are using 6″x 12′ select cypress boards for our ceiling throughout the house.  Emily and I spent 2.5 days last weekend and a few hours yesterday sanding and “pickeling” (white-washing) this wood.  Our friend Miah came by last Saturday to help sand for a few hours.  The “pickeling” technique is pretty straight forward; sand the board, apply a coat of paint and wipe the paint off with a rag.  We were going for something really light, and I think we found our groove after the first 20-30 boards.  To date we have completed 180 boards.  It really feels like we have completed 500.  We have a total of 320 to finish for both wings of the house, not including the outdoor covered space.

What else?  We continue to get the dreaded “not included” from our builder.  I won’t go into detail on this, but I feel that I would now be able to write a pretty air-tight building contract.  Unfortunately this was a skill I lacked prior to building.  In any case, I trust that we can get through this.

WAPA got our temporary power hooked up Friday.  Funny story, they actually came out Monday to set us up, however, our house number wasn’t big enough on the temporary pole, so they told us to make it bigger and the will come back, 5 days later.

Work on the house these past two weeks consisted of finishing the rafters, painting the rafters, pouring the back wall for the pool deck, getting the pool area ready, and getting ready to pour the guest “wing” walls.  We finished Friday by actually pouring the walls.  For those keeping track we have now used 247 yards of concrete.

We have also signed a contract for AC installation, met with Gaston from PVC Windoors out of Miami, and spent plenty of time talking to vendors about roof coatings, cistern coatings and paint.

3-1-2011 - The arrival of the cypress

3-1-2011 - The arrival of the cypress

3-1-2011 - Deck Wall forms

3-1-2011 - Deck Wall forms

3-1-2011 - Rainbow

3-1-2011 - Rainbow

3-3-2011 - Rafter Work

3-3-2011 - Rafter Work

3-3-2011 - Finished Pool Deck Back Wall

3-3-2011 - Finished Pool Deck Back Wall

3-3-2011 - Finished Pool Deck Back Wall

3-3-2011 - Finished Pool Deck Back Wall

3-5-2011 - Miah helping with sanding the cypress

3-5-2011 - Miah helping with sanding the cypress

3-5-2011 - Cypress Drying Station

3-5-2011 - Cypress Drying Station

3-5-2011 - Emily working on the cypress

3-5-2011 - Emily working on the cypress

3-7-2011 - Footings for powder room/pantry that will connect to the main living

3-7-2011 - Footings for powder room/pantry that will connect to the main living

3-7-2011 - Pouring Walls

3-11-2011 - Pouring Walls

3-11-2011 - Pouring Walls

3-11-2011 - Pouring Walls and Painting Rafters

3-11-2011 - Pouring Walls

3-11-2011 - Pouring Walls

3-12-2011 - More Cypress

3-12-2011 - More Cypress

3-12-2011 - Finished rafters, starting pool, and poured office walls

3-12-2011 - Finished rafters, starting pool, and poured office walls

3-12-2011 - Finished rafters (and temporary support)

3-12-2011 - Finished rafters (and temporary support)

3-12-2011 - Finished rafters (love this shot)

3-12-2011 - Finished rafters (love this shot)

3-12-2011 - Emily

3-12-2011 - Emily