Gringos de Marimán

Over the last few years I heard many business gurus preaching the necessity for flexibility to adapt quickly to changing requirements. I've found the Chileans have learned this skill as well. This week the crew adapted to a variety of challenges to keep the casa progressing as usual. To start with, we had the usual everyday tasks such as mounting the 2nd agua canale. Shown below is another sample of the sheetmetal pieces which are pieced together to form the canale. Looks like no big deal to move this to the roof.

Of course you might change your mind once you look at the actual process. Here we go, first let's lift the full canale and get it over to the side of the house.

Ok, now start lifting

Little longer than you thought? Remember, don't twist it too much or you'll tear the metal. Now, all you have to do is slide the canale into place under the other one.

What do you mean it's stuck?

Ok, I think we've got it, as long as we can get 5 guys on the roof pulling together.

Halfway home!!

One last push should do it

Let's hope the insurance is paid up.

Finished, now that was a piece of cake, eh?

Now let's take on a real challenge. Take a look below out the window of the formal/living/dining/guest (take your pick) room. If you have good eyes you'll notice the volcano Villarrica in the background. In the original plans the view of the top of the volcano would have been cut off by the carport roof. Adapting quickly, Andrés helped save the day by redesigning the carport to raise the roof a bit, providing a full view of Pucón's favorite landmark. Yes, you could always just walk out the door, or up to the roof, but on winter days you'd probably prefer to stay inside.

Naturally Andrés had the easy part, now the crew had to do some roof raising. Here's the back corner of the house after the metal cap was added to the lower roof. Originally, the height shown here would have been the same across the entire backside.

Now take a look at that piece of steel hanging in the air. That will be the new height of the carport and the entryway to the house.

The crew frames the side of the house, preparing to place another steel beam to support that lower/higher roof.

Now the outer beam sits atop the extra framing added to the entry.

Now it's time to raise another beam. So how did you think we'd do that?

Woops, can we hold on for a second. . . .

Ok, now everbody lift . . .

Looks like a tight fit

No problem we'll just lop a little off the side.

Don't worry, I spared you the step by step welding photos. Besides all that fun, the crew also framed out the stairwell leading to the rooftop deck.

And started covering the outside of the lower terraza too

Speaking of flexibility, I hope you don't mind that this update is being posted a little late. You see I had to adjust my schedule a bit to make sure I kept the estufa well-fueled. Rain poured down for a couple of days and once it stopped we noticed a dusting of white in the nearby hills.

Meanwhile the cordillera now has a nice winter blanket. Needless to say it's a bit colder and I need to go back and check on the fire. Adios and hasta luego!!