Got Wood?

Now that the entire upper floor has been poured in concrete, I have anxiously awaited the building of the concrete stairs to it in front and back. I did climb up a rickety wood ladder once to view the concrete floor and view from up to on my new deck once, but it appeared a “death wish” to do it again.

The day after the floor was poured I climbed up to check out the view.

Finally, it appears that my wish is being answered, with the construction of forms for the stairs in front.

Starting to build forms for concrete front steps

Another pleasant surprise was the delivery of wood to start the framing of the house. I was out and about with good friends, also building in the area, and returning found wood stacked “upstairs”.

Pouring rain, guys underneath taking out support poles 😉

This morning as the crew arrived, a load of concrete bags followed them on a truck, and so did the pouring rain! They had told me they would be mixing and pouring the steps, but now that process is postponed.

Instead, they all ran under the house and started removing all the support poles and sheets of plywood that supported all the upper concrete until it hardened. I am actually thrilled with that so I can see the view of the ocean under the house from the Cabana.

Here comes another load of wood!

And then the next load of building/framing lumber arrived and watched the crew unload and lift up the 12 feet to the upper level of the house. I bet they wish those front stairs were built!

Now I should tell you that when your builder places an order for the wood, it is cut to order at that time, dried and shipped to the building site directly from the lumber yard. There is no “Home Depot” or the like here to just go pick up lumber. It’s cut to order!

A very important thing for you to know is that the wood here in Belize is a much denser/harder wood than in the U.S. Even their pine is a hardwood. Something else you need to know is that the wood used to build your house is not “kiln dried”, it must dry naturally. For that reason, I found that things like large wood beams tend to bend and twist, and they must be straightened in place when installing. In some cases, they must cut and piece two together to eliminate warped lengths. You need to stay on top of this.

Unloading lumber from the truck, and lifting up on top to stack! Where are the stairs ??? 

Seems that the rain is subsiding and the guys are back to work outside. The next blog should feature concrete from steps and some house framing started.

See ya then.

Gary……The Pirate