Windows and Doors

We now have all the doors and windows hung.

We have a metal screen door, then two metal doors (going into the entranceway, and from the entranceway into the kitchen). The doors in between the other rooms so far will have curtains, so only curtain rails were needed at this stage.

The windows in the entranceway and kitchen all have screens, while the double-glazed polycarbonate windows, which take up most of the south wall of the living and dining rooms, do not open.

The day we hung the screen door and moved the mosquito netting from the door of the room we currently live in to the doorway going up into what will be the kids' rooms was a great day – the whole space is now fly and mosquito free!!!!!

Basically, everything is sealed off and weatherproof, with the exception of the doorway going up to the kids' rooms. It is still open (with a mosquito netting over it) and so lets in the rain. But this will get taken care of over the next couple of weeks, when we build the roof of the kids' rooms, thereby covering the doorway, if not closing it off.

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The Roof and Water Catchment

Seeing as it's rain season, water is of particular interest, as this is when we collect most of our year's water. That said, getting the roof totally finished was a priority.

When I say roof, I actually mean roofs, as it not only includes the kitchen, dining room, living room (30ft x 13ft total), but also the entranceway (6ft x 8ft) and the building we are currently living in (12ft x 20ft). All of the roofs connect and are curved in an arch, which is structurally far stronger than a flat surface, and obviously increases the surface area (for example, instead of the 30ftx13ft floor area, the roof is 30ft x15ft).

From the inside to outside, the roofs consist of:
a ceiling of arched rafters and tin
8 inches of polystyrene
a layer of black plastic
a 3 inch concrete slab, reinforced with rebar and remesh. Our mix was 3:1 sand/cement, with fibers and waterproofing agent added
a layer of cement, lime and fibers
waterproofing acrylic paint, which we applied in 2 coats with a fabric in between. This fabric gives the paint flexibility and strength, so should a small crack appear in the concrete, the paint will not crack on top of it

The hardest aspect of this roof was making sure that the gutters didn't have any low spot where water could pool.

When it was all finished we let a couple of rains wash it off really well, then hooked it up to our system. A little under 4 inches collected over 1200 gallons. Unfortunately (well, fortunately, I guess) our tanks are now all full. We have bought another 1000 gallon tank, which we will be setting up this week. Our plan had been to build an7000 gallon concrete tank, for which the hole is already dug and a road to it cleared, but the house has taken longer than expected, so we have postponed that project until the Spring. Still, we have easily enough to last us through until the next rains, and then next year, with the added 7000 gallons, will see us with enough to really take gardening seriously.

On a side note, our pond now has quite a bit of water in it. We need to cut a few trenches to channel the water better, but have not yet had chance. Still, it increases with each rain and holds the water really well. Little by little.

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2 months since my last post...

It has been so long since I wrote a blog that I really don't know where to begin.

First of all, my apologies for not getting to it sooner. I know that certain members of the family (no names, Janet) have been missing the videos and photos of Leo, while others have been wondering if we're even alive. I am sorry. We have just been very busy. We work on the house week days (usually pretty tired week nights) and then Abe has been working on the computer at the weekends. Meanwhile, Leo is growing like a weed and it is no longer possible to play with him while blogging – he demands ALL your attention or else he'll get himself into all kinds of trouble! That, coupled with the garden, cooking, cleaning, laundry, vehicle maintenance, etc. etc. etc. we have had little spare time. Still, things are easing up a little, often because work gets called off due to rain, so I'm getting to it now.

Things have changed so much here that it's probably best to do an overview of the various things we've accomplished. So here goes... there are going to be several entries!!!!

South wall

We have made a lot of progress the past couple of weeks. I am now able to work full time again, and I had forgotten how much I love stuccoing! I have no pain in my stomach at all.

We've been leveling (with a two inch incline over thirty feet) and stuccoing the gutters, which are now ready for rain. (photos)

We have also begun on the south windows. The south walls of the dining room and living room are almost entirely window. This not only allows for solar gain in winter, but also year-round growing, as there are flower beds (which will use grey water from the bathroom and kitchen) at their base. Abe welded up and hung the window frames and we are now stuccoing around them. It has really changed the look of the place. (photos)

Have finished digging out the cistern hole, which is the next project once we finish these rooms. (photos)

We feel as though the end is finally in sight. There's still a lot to do, but each week sees the list get smaller and the house look prettier. We are ready for this too be done, that's for sure!

Breastfeeding benefits

This probably isn't something people normally blog about, but I find it interesting.

Today I started my period... for the first time in almost 2 years! I'd read that some women don't menstruate while breastfeeding on demand, and I guess I was one of those. But now, 1 month after Leo decided he didn't want any more boobie, my cycle began anew!

Mmmmmmm - I think I see a way out of the dreaded female curse...!

Leo's first bed

One great thing about Leo is that he has never really moved about after waking from a nap. He wakes up, cries and you come and pick him up. I know this isn't the case with most babies. I guess he's just used to us being close by - we all live in one room and sleep in one bed. And because of this, we've always been able to do things outside while he slept, knowing that he would let us know when he wakes up.

Well, that's all changed now. He's started waking up and either sitting or going straight into a crawl, before he really know he's awake. Yesterday, he was sleeping and we were outside in his playroom (what will be the kitchen). I heard him utter one cry, so I dashed the 20 feet into the house... to find him standing up at THE END OF THE BED looking at me. I nearly had a heart attack!

A friend of ours gave us a crib several months ago, but we have no space for it in the house. We had just figured he could sleep with us until we finish the building and then he could move into his own bed. Well, him teetering on the edge of the bed without his human safety nets has changed that. We went into the village, picked up the crib and it is now set up in his playroom. He will still sleep with us at night, but during the day he will now be confined to baby prison.

We weren't going to put him in it yet, as he has teeth cutting through at the moment and is running a high fever and feeling lousy, and we didn't want to try a new thing while he was feeling bad. But we gave him a bath and he was feeling super rambunctious, so we thought we'd try it out. He loved it!!!! He doesn't know it's for sleeping yet, but he thinks it's a great new toy! Our baby has his first bed.

For more photos and videos, click here.

Pouring the roof

The roof is now truly underway.

Abe and a couple of others put 8 inches of polystyrene over the whole thing and covered that with black plastic. They then put rebar and remesh over the plastic, and tied that into the metal framework of the gutters.

I'm still not able to help much on this kind of thing after my operation, and I hate not being involved. However, there were a couple of days when I was kind of glad - the days when they were up on the roof and it was 100 degrees in the shade (it's usually low 90s at the moment). All of them looked like they'd just spent a month at sea!

On Wednesday, 6 people came to help. We had two on the mixer, one moving the wheelbarrows to where they were needed, two passing the concrete up, and two on top, trowelling. I kept waters filled and got things people needed, Leo perched on my hip.

The mix we do is 12 shovels sand, 4 shovels cement, a big handful of concrete fibers, and a handful of a waterproofing additive. They did 47 loads in a little over three hours, giving us a brand new concrete roof. They then poured and trowelled the slopes of the gutters - a two inch rise over 30 feet. It was a good day.

We'll put another cap on the whole thing before painting it, but this was the big hurdle. At least we'll be able to walk on it without scaffolding for the next layer.

Click here for more photos