Mike and crew showed up as scheduled on Wednesday, April 4th. As I mentioned previously, I had brought down all the materials--3/4 inch plywood, rebar and 16' 2x4's. Work went quickly as it seems to with Mike. He always has other commitments so he's always running in place. He runs his crew like I ran mine--hands on. He does all the lead work etc. barking out orders. A ten minute break at nine and a half hour lunch at noon with water breaks anytime you need one--these you need a lot of.
Everything in place to go down the slide
The site as we had left it previously
We put the slide I had built up on two saw horses to lessen the slope and quickly slid 50 sheets of ply onto the slab. The 2x4's were simply dropped into the hole against the back wall by the ladder. I won't bore you with the details but after nailing down some 2x4's with concrete nails, the guide for the inside walls was in place. Next in very quick order the pre-drilled plywood was stood up and screwed in at the bottom to the 2x4's, with the corners plumb and square the work went very fast. Snap ties were then put in each hole and the whalers were attached to hold then in place. Mike prefers plastic snap ties and whalers. Myself I had no clue although with shipping etc they are three times the expense of metal. However after working with them so far I wouldn't use anything else. Just the weight difference of humping plastic whalers down the hill vs metal makes it worthwhile. Don't forget, everything here is done by manpower for the most part and more importantly every thing that goes down the hill may still have to come up! After putting up the inside walls with snap ties and whalers we then started putting up all the rebar. A lot of rebar.
How fast did the work go?
We were done in four days. Those are the two cisterns on the right side of the photo.
In this photo the plastic snap ties are clearly evident. For the uninitiated, which included me about a month ago, the snap ties and whalers hold the walls both together and apart with the concrete poured in the middle.
This is the other eight foot rough opening for the doors from the bedroom to the side patio.
Mike and I came up to the site on Sunday after breakfast to button up and he gave me a punch list of things to do while we waited for our inspection. I put in for the inspection on Monday morning. As I previously mentioned these things take some time.
Meanwhile I worked alone again to bring down the next 50 sheets of ply, 100 16' 2x4's, more rebar and I drilled the 18 holes in each sheet of ply for the snap ties. I cannot say enough about downhill building sites. With the chances of getting a level site very slim you are left with the choice of uphill vs downhill. There is no discussion. All the work I do alone would not be possible with an uphill build. There is no way that I could carry rebar, ply and 2x4's uphill no matter how slight the grade. In the photo above my container is on a very small downhill lie. Just that 1--2% allows the sheet to literally slide out the door where my truck waits also on a grade.
Gravity helps the sheets slide onto the roof racks. From there I drive down into my cul de sac where again I'm parking on a grade. The sheets then slide off with little effort.
I included this because I can't stress it enough how important it is to be above your site. Did I know this before I started? Of course not! But I know it now. What's that saying about god taking care of fools and idiots.......
I was finishing up drilling all the holes when Carlos, the inspector, showed up on Friday along with rain. What had started as some showers on Thursday turned into a torrential downpour by Friday afternoon. It basically rained nonstop until Monday with more on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most everyone was happy to have their near empty cisterns filled to the brim. However there was a small minority that wasn't happy. Those folks who had just days before paid through the ear for the water truck and people like me in the middle of a project. Everything is now delayed! But worse still the excavated back wall caved in onto the rebar and the wall forms. Thankfully when I did the excavation I left about six feet clearance tapering to about eight feet at the top. It helped. But not enough. I spent five hours a day last Tuesday through Friday digging out the mud. I'm still not done. One of the corners came down while I was working and I have to go back today, Sunday, to dig it out. Once the slide occurred sleeping was near impossible. We have all been through tropical downpours but hearing it knowing that all could be lost if the rest of the hill comes down is a bit much. I was freaking out to say the least.
The clearance prevented any structural damage, aside from having to clean out the rebar and keyway with a spoon! There's nothing quite like shoveling sticky mud. Forget that it weighs a ton, its the sticking to the shovel that kills you. Finally after a couple of days I figured out using the broad end of my pick worked better--akin to plowing a field. I'm hoping that a power washer may work with only a gravity feed water line or sump pump to clean out the keyways and rebar. It seems a stretch but I'll find out Monday at the tool rental place. Its been clearing since Friday.
On a bright note rain brings flowers. The whole island is blooming, all within three days of the heavy rains. We went from a very dry cactus type environment to a lush tropical island again.
More rain and more delays. Another week goes by with not much accomplished except digging out the mud. Another small slide covered the plywood piled in the retaining wall excavation. That took a day. At best, I'm good for five hours of shoveling this stuff all the while thinking I'm having a heart attack! I put a 16 foot 2x10 across the driveway to divert the water coming down the road. It has solved the problem. In fact the best time to solve problems with water is when it's raining. You can see all the rivers that are causing all the problems. A day spent digging small trenches proved to be the cure all for the entire site.
My hopes of clearing the mud from the rebar were dashed when the rental shop's pressure washer would not work with the sump pump pressure. I asked why it did not work. He had no clue. I need to get that mud out by today as Mike is finally coming tomorrow. I ran down to my wifi connection, went online and google searched pressure washers. Five minutes later I was opening a pdf file and reading the specs on a washer. Technically the gallons per minute output has to simply be met by the same input--more is better so you don't burn out the engine. Take a five gallon bucket, put your hose in it and measure how much water you have after one minute. His pressure washer should have worked. The real problem? He has the only one on island for rent. I called Home Depot on St. Thomas to see if they had any in stock. They did. I caught the next car ferry. Thankfully they run every half hour for $40-50 round trip. Four hours later I was driving out to Coral Bay with my $500 pressure washer that uses 3 gallon per minute! I had a sump pump already. Three hours later coated in mud head to toe, the rebar, footings and keyways were clean. Mike canceled! He's showing up Friday instead. Good, it gives me time to put in all the electric conduit.
Cleaned and protected.
To recap the time line. Mike showed up on Wednesday April 4th. We were done by the 8th. Monday the 9th I put in for the inspection. I was inspected on the Friday the 13th the start of the rain. It basically rained, on and off, for the next ten days delaying every one's projects. Then there was a shortage of concrete for a week. Bottom line Mike finally showed up on Friday May 4th. Meanwhile I had the adventures mentioned above. I also took care of getting my electric and plumbing permits taken care of. The trick here is to find a licensed contractor that will pull the permit and then let you do the work. It took a while but I got it done. Begging/asking favors is not one of my social skills. And begging is what you are doing. Net, net it took a few grand and everything is ready to go. I will still have to pay for the actual permits when I pick them up in St. Thomas. The contractors in question will come eyeball my work to make sure I'm doing it the right way etc. Paul, the electrician, was extremely helpful in detailing what I had to do to meet local customs for running conduit in concrete etc. Anyway a few grand saves me about fifteen by doing the work myself.
We started closing up the walls on Friday. I'll sleep a little better now. The rain is coming again. I'm scheduled to fly out of here for a eighteen days on May 15th. We shall see. Tomorrow, I'll order the concrete after work. Everything is always down to the wire!
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