Manzanillo House

For something within our price range - still living within our cruising budget - we've narrowed the field of very needy houses to one in particular that's only a block from the casita. We like this neighborhood; it's close to the beach, the town of Santiago, and the bus to almost anywhere.

One of the interior windows and out the back
door - those are mangos all over the ground.

1650 square feet with a back yard three times that size, this little house has awakened the gardener in both of us. We're visualizing paver paths and raised beds. Plus, after six years of boat projects, we're ready for more projects, hard to believe, but true.

This curious old house seems to have been built in stages, possibly as stand-alone casitas, and then a roof was slapped over all to form one larger casa. The most compelling evidence of this piecemeal approach is the window built into each room - pretty strange to look out of a window directly into another room - maybe we can think of something clever to do with the openings.

Real Estate agent, Hugo,
and Stan surveying the front room

Of the floorspace, 1/4 is taken up by the 'great hall', which we conjecture was the space between houses before they were joined by the roof. Then there are three tiny bedrooms, three industrial-strength bathrooms, a kitchen space, and the front room, all tiled in a god-awful blue design. It's going to take alot of creative remodeling. The total space is 30' by 42'; we're really looking forward to sinking our teeth into a project house.

Shower stall and sink in the front room -
that gas bottle's got to go!

One thing we can't figure out is why the garage was made as part of the house....

June 13th

The Inspection

Street view of #11 Calle Dos

While we waited for the inspector at #11 Calle Dos, we took a couple of shots of the house and street where we'll live. It's typically Mexican, both house and street. House construction is with concrete pillars and beams filled in-between with brick and stuccoed over all. This type of construction is supposed to be more earthquake friendly. Flat roofs are configured for possible second floor additions - squint real hard and you might see the rebar sticking up from each column, left on purpose to tie into later construction (if we build three more stories we'll have an ocean view).

#11 Calle Dos and the son's lot

One of the problems with flat-roof construction is that the home owner must vault up after every rain to sweep the standing water away from the low spots and out the downspouts. And, like many of the newer barrio homes where land is premium, this one was built property-line to property-line, meaning no downspouts, or windows even, on either of the long sides, east or west.

Stan, Luis the civil engineer, and Lori the agent
in the front room as it flows into the great hall

Stan and I wanted to fix that problem, on one side at least, by buying the lot to the east. It's owned by the #11 owner's son. When asked if he would sell, he said, "...only for a million pesos." The son lives in Guadalajara and his business keeps him on the road - we're hoping we can wear him down sometime in the future. We'll try to stay in contact with him, anyway. Another issue will be to get his approval to chop down his weeds.

The front 1/4 of #11 is only five years old. The back 3/4 is a bit older. One of the nice surprises we discovered was the numerous light fixtures and outlets, and the in-wall wiring. One little wrinkle is that the sewer system is still on the septic tank, even though there's a city sewer line in the street.

And not only is the septic tank still in use, it's located smack underneath the frontroom floor. Well, that little piece of info precipitated a confab with the inspector. What he pointed out is that the sewer line is visible as it enters the front room by the loo. In order to run the line to the street, the floors won't need to be broken up, the line can run along the wall (we'll later build kitchen counters over it), punch through the front wall, and then dive subterranean under the front yard and out into the street.

Approximation of the floor plan

27 July

Appointment to Close

We've got an appointment at the lawyers to close on the house this coming Wednesday, the 1st of August. The timing is perfect because our lease runs out on the 3rd, giving us wiggle room for cleaning and moving. Rosie (more on her in our regular log) will have a back yard to romp in, soon. That will be a very good thing for us and for Rosie. Then, in two weeks, I start duties as house/cat sitter, elsewhere, while Stan starts the real work on the house. Kewl, just like boatwork, Stan works, I get outa the way.

One of the many iterations of improvement plans

We've started the list of improvements we want to make - of course! Planning, that's my department. Heck, we've had more than a month of nothing else to do but plan....

Phase 1, Kitchen and Bathroom

Move gas bottle outside
Buy and install appliances
Hookup/seal-off sewer/septic, move fixtures, install h/w heater
Install downspouts
Install air conditioning
Rip out front bathroom
Rip out kitchen wall
Install kitchen cabinets
Tile kitchen floor

Phase II, Bath/Laundry

Install sliding glass doors, front and back
Tile master bath/new fixtures/hot water
Screen/finish back patio
Re-build back bathroom
Rip out old back bathroom wall
Install washer/(maybe) dryer
Build broom closet

Phase III, 2nd Story

Cover front patio/carport
Build stairs to roof
Take it from there....

16 August

First Baby Step

First things first: kitties corralled, buggy things excluded, max ventilation maintained. Cats aren't allowed out, bugs aren't allowed in, and air circulation is highly encouraged.

Nasty old, holey screen complete with paint splatters

Therefore, and forthwith, Stan removed screens from the four windows, two front and two back (the onliest windows we gots, cuz neighbors' walls are built smack dab on each hip). He carried the old screens, gray, weathered 1 X 1's with stapled on screening, to the aluminum shop, and said, "Please duplicate these."

The very next day he installed the replacement window screens, to be wired in place to prevent little pink noses from popping them out.

Spiffy new screens on ratty old windows

Windows and doors will present a design and decorating nightmare for the stylish remodeler. This being a feudal country and all, the early penitentiary look is still in. Our doors and windows are functional, ugly as sin, but they work. However, we will need to deal with rickety screendoors and that carport look in the living room pretty soon.

A House in Colinas de Santiago, a Suburb of Manzanillo