The team in Costa Rica isn’t letting up on their work! The rehabilitation project of the wood fascias has now continued to Casa Tranquilo.
Casa Tranquilo is our second-oldest house, but you’d never be able to tell by looking at the wood.
Speaking of wood, Javier scoured the local sawmills for the perfect wood to use on the rood trusses and facias for the new house, Casa Bonita.
This locally-felled hardwood requires a long period of baking in the sun to dry out before it is ready to be cut and stained.
The ecology in Costa Rica is so aggressive that if the wood doesn’t properly cure before staining, the bugs will burrow inside the wood and chew it up from within the varnish. This kind of delay can (and has) held up our construction projects in the past, but Javier and Dieter are planning this caper perfectly. This wood will be ready to be built into trusses once we get to that step of the building procedure.
Casa Bianca is growing before our very eyes; one week after finishing the foundation, the crew has stacked and filled several courses of block.
The speed of this progress is astonishing, especially from a crew who are not full time constructions workers. Remember that these guys first professions are boat crew and office staff.
The next milestone is a real challenge: pouring the second story concrete floor, which is essentially a second fully-formed slab just like the initial foundation.
In order to get there, we first have to pour concrete lentils (or window headers). This tricky pour is a good warm-up for the big one to come. Here is a close-up look at the rebar lattice drilled into existing block:
Then we form in the sides and bottom of the lentil.
Also the guys were smart enough to pour these lentils on a Saturday so they can have a full 48 hours to dry and cure.
Exciting progress at the Nature Preserve campus as Casa Bianca is really taking shape!