Home Construction Week 20
October 16-22, 2006

As I mentioned last week, all the roofs except the living room and the garage have been completed. This past week the garage roof (above photo) was framed in with Michoacan pine.
In the first photo below you can view the underside of the garage roof and see the exposed beams. The second photo below shows the garage roof after roofing paper, steel rebar and a layer of concrete was poured. Towards the end of construction red Mexican tile will cover the concrete and complete the roof. Now the only room needing a roof is the living room. This should be complete this week.

The plastering of the ceiling and walls for the bottom floor is nearly completed. Only a final thin coating of mortar mixed with marble powder needs to be applied. The marble powder gives a very attractive and durable finish to the walls.

The photo below, taken from the back yard, shows the installed hand railings aside the terraces of the two guest bedrooms. The railing for the television room can be seen in the photo, but it has not been installed. We traveled with Architect Arturo Vargas to the pueblo of Patzcuaro on Monday to order the hand railing for the upper floor terraces and for the staircase. These railing for be slightly different because they will be made of decorative aluminum with glass panel inserts. The glass will not block our great views of the golf course and also give us wind protection.

The final photo below shows the partially constructed landing for the staircase leading from the lower floor to the garden. This staircase will connect with a small bridge crossing a pond and then lead to the gazebo. One of the things I look forward to is enjoying some fish and turtles in the pond. Since I've never done this before, I'm going to have to get some advise on outdoor ponds. I look forward to leasurely days spent in the gazebo watching the pond.