Gringos de Marimán

I´m posting this update really late due to a chain of unforeseen circumstances. Most significantly, our bomba (pump) died in the rented casa, leaving us without agua. After numerous maestro visits to replace the bomba, some pipas, and some electrical components, we had a functioning system. It's probably not such a bad thing to experience a typical Chilean homeowner's plight. I just hope we don't get too much experience. On to the construction update.

Over the past 2 weeks, while the work continued on the roof, I've been keeping one eye on the road hoping to spot an approaching flete. Our crew had now finished all the preliminary work on the main roof, but we were still waiting for the finishing touch, the zinc cubierta. Several times the vendor promised imminent delivery, but the flete truck never showed. No problem for our crew, they just switched gears and started on a few other tasks. When I checked in on Monday they were constructing these cajas.

They mounted the cajas in the ceiling just inside the braces at the top of the large pillars which will hold the window frames. The windows face north to capture as much sun as possible during cold days. Of course, we'll also want a little shade on occasion, so we'll mount curtains inside these cajas. The raised curtains will then sit flush with the interior wooden ceiling.

With the cajas in place (and still waiting), the crew also added additional framing support for the ceiling. Initially, only the more complex triangular cerchas spanned the ceiling. Between the cerchas the crew placed additional vigas made of jointed 2x4's.

We got word on Wednesday that the cubierta would definitely (¿?) be delivered sometime on Thursday. In the morning we got a completely different surprise as we looked out the windows. Fresh nieve covered everything creating some beautiful vistas.

The snow also excited the el campo dogs. Here you can see them trying to convince their owner to lie down and make snow angels. (Note: this is a trained campo woman, please don't try this stunt at home!)

While we frolicked the maestros got busy with more plástico to protect the window frames which should be added soon. Perhaps this was an omen of the weather to come? Obviously the snow had melted by that afternoon, but we were still waiting for the zinc.

More vigas were also added to the pasillo.

And the maestros cleared the scaffolding from the terraza.

Even with the plástico in place I enjoyed pretending that I was already sitting on a finished terraza with open vistas.

The cubierta finally arrived late Thursday afternoon. No flete pictures, I was a doubting Thomas; I'd already given up waiting. On Friday the casa became a beehive of activity. The maestros started by teaming up to lift the zinc planchas to the roof.

And then transporting each section across the top to be fastened in place.

You might be wondering why zinc cubierta? The stacked planchas might remind one of cheap corrugated roofs, but these pieces are far more durable. Zinc also creates it's own self-renewing patina, providing excellent protection against corrosion. This anti-corrosive feature helps to make zinc more environmentally friendly since rainwater won't leech metal into the soil. I didn't realize that many European houses have zinc roofs, including most of Paris. Under reasonable conditions a zinc roof could last for more than 50 years, but I won't be holding my breath.

The crew overlapped the planchas fastening each piece with leak-proof screw/washer fasteners.

On the uphill side the tabs between each ridge are preformed pointing up to insure proper drainage.

On the downhill side the planchas hang over the agua canale with the tabs bent down.

Here you can see the cubierta in place over the main surface, while the area to the left over the pasillo remains uncovered.

Meanwhile, the fierro maestros returned to continue work on the lower roof sections. You may recall that at the end of last week they placed the large beams framing the techo of the carport, as you can see below.

They also began adding smaller beams spanning the width of the carport.

First they cut each piece to the proper length.

And welded each piece in place. You can also see how wood vigas will be added between the fierro pieces.

By the end of the week the cross beams filled the space up to the framed entryway.

Enough, I have to start working on next week's entry. Hopefully no more bomba delays . . . hasta la proxima.