Forums > Specific Focus > Home, Garden & Construction in Mexico

Rolly / Moderator

Oct 5, 2003, 11:34 AM

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Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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Casa Vieja: After a couple of months of no reports, I'm back with an update. I haven't been posting because the things we have been doing were well covered in the Las Casas project, but now there are some new things to look at. Check the latest at http://rollybrook.com/R03-10-04.htm

Las Casas: When last we spoke (9 August), I told you about the problems of running out of water on wash day and how the ladies decided they wanted to move their washing machines to the back clothes line area at ground level. After we bought all the material needed to make the hookups and the morning we arrived to begin work, the ladies told us they had changed their minds and didn't want to move the washers. UGH! Actually, I'm glad because I though the move was a bum idea. The pipes and stuff we bought for the move can be used (have already been used) on the Casa Vieja project.

The cabinet maker still has not delivered the last of the cabinets. He is now 3 weeks past his promised delivery date. What's a poor mother to do?

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

Oct 5, 2003, 3:27 PM

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Re: [Rolly] Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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Thanks for the update!!

The styrofoam-core wall is pretty ingenious - to your knowledge is this a fairly common construction technique as an alternative to stud and drywall for interior partition walls? Is the foam panel/metal mesh combination connected to the floor and/or ceiling in any way, or is the stucco and plaster combination going to pin things in place? Finally, the rebar connecting to the door frame and column look like they stop a foot or two into the wall itself - is anything going to be added to provide rigidity, or is that also the function of the stucco and plaster covering?

Since your photos and discussion of the technique in the original building project, I've noticed the use of foam blocks in concrete slab construction on other sites in Mexico, including for what's going to work out to be a five or six story commercial building. The number of foam blocks they had on site (marked on the edges with different colors of paint, which I assume indicated the thickness or use of the different blocks) dwarfed any other construction material staged at the site. I was trying to get pictures of the styro-parking lot, but from the local bus I was riding things didn't work out too well.

Thanks again for taking the time to share!

Rolly / Moderator

Oct 5, 2003, 4:30 PM

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Re: [ET] Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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Judging by the amount of this Styrofoam material on hand at the local building supply store, these wall panels are not much used. The store stocks huge amounts of the ceiling/roof material, but not much of the wall panels. At the Home Mart (=Home Depot) in Torreón, they had a lot of dry wall and steel studs in stock, but none of these Styrofoam panels although I had seen them there a few weeks ago. I did see a lot of them on a job site in Manzanillo about 18 months ago.

(I have not seen any stud/drywall construction in this area except in some commercial buildings.)
The panels themselves are quite stiff. They (3 of them) are set in a bed of mortar at the bottom and top and held by the short rods on both sides at the two ends of the wall. Even before the stucco was applied the wall was very stiff. I pushed on it and found no give. With the stucco and plaster, it should be about as strong as a brick wall -- which is actually not as strong as it sounds -- the bricks used in construction here are fairly brittle. In tearing out some of the old walls in this project, we found the well aged plaster to be as strong, sometime stronger, than the bricks.

I had assumed that we would apply the plaster directly to the panels, but I was told that the wire mesh would rust from the moisture in the plaster, and then the rust would migrate through the plaster. So we did the stucco coat to prevent this rust discoloration.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

(This post was edited by Rolly on Oct 5, 2003, 4:37 PM)

TomG

Oct 5, 2003, 9:17 PM

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Re: [Rolly] Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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Yes, plaster is very porous (especially the lower grades of it like those used for construction and molding) and it takes water like a blotter. It is sort of amazing how rust can bleed so far through it.

But plaster is one of the worlds great materials with uddles of fantastic properties.

Your documentary reports of these construction projects are real gems, and much appreciated.

Oct 6, 2003, 8:00 PM

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Re: [Rolly] Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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Interesting. In going back and looking at the photos on your website, there's one where it does look like there's some kind of grout in between the wall panel and what looks like some kind of sill plate.

Using stucco to prevent rusting is an interesting thought. In traditional plaster over wire lath construction in the US there doesn't seem to be the concern, but this could be because the wire lath is probably galvanized, and there's three layers of plaster (scratch, brown, and finish coats) used.

Thanks for the additional information. Keep it coming!

(This post was edited by ET on Oct 6, 2003, 8:01 PM)

Rolly / Moderator

Oct 6, 2003, 8:52 PM

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Re: [ET] Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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I think you are looking at the left picture in the first row. The new wall is resting on a stiffening beam that was added after the original house was build. The slab began to sag a little, and rain water puddled on the roof and had to be swept off. The beam was laid on top of the roof slab to prevent further sagging. The new roof over the second floor has a beam centered over that stiffener much like the beams we used in the clear spans in Las Casas. So these two beams form the base and the top for the Styrofoam wall.

I have a backup plan in case the slab wants the sag again. The edge of the kitchen island lines up with that beam (accident, not planning) which will allow us to add a pair of columns at the ends of the island that will be architecturally acceptable -- maybe even nice -- if we need some extra support. I hope we don't have to do that because the columns will take away some of the openness of what is already a fairly crowded room.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

Rolly / Moderator

Oct 6, 2003, 9:13 PM

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Re: [Rolly] Building Projects Updates for 4 October 2003

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PS: We talked with the cabinet maker to find out what is the delay on the bathroom cabinets in Las Casas. He said his shop was flooded in the recent ungodly rain storm we had. All the work was ruined, so he has to start over.

I have never experience such a rain, and the old folks here say it was the worst storm ever in Lerdo. After five days of rain the ground was fully water-logged, then the heavens opened and dropped three and a half inches in 40 minutes accompanied by very high winds. The paper said 150 trees were up rooted (no count of broken branches), 11 businesses were destroyed and over 100 home were damaged by the wind/trees while countless others were flooded. The army came to help clean up the mess.

Strangely, it was a very localized storm. Near-by Gomez Palacio and Torreón each received less than a half inch of rain and no wind damage.

Our average annual rain fall is around seven inches. We got more than that in five days.The roof on my house leaked in several places. The unsealed roof on the remodeling project did not leak at all. Makes me wonder if we really need to seal it -- but we will.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook