Gringos de Marimán

We enjoyed beautiful weather over the weekend and the beginning of the new week. Beautiful that is if you like it sunny, clear, and cold. The thermometer inside the kitchen of our rented casa read 0º C (or 32º F) at 10:30 on Monday morning. Who needs heating in the kitchen. Our local weather watcher claims that the previous night's low reached -8º C (about 18º F), an unusually cold temperature according to many of the locals. We also discovered some interesting new artwork in the garden after one of the PVC pipes froze, cracked, and then started spraying water, creating a pastoral ice sculpture.

Perhaps it was just coincidence that when I arrived at the parcela I found the crew adding more fisiterm inside the living/dining/guest room.

Despite the ice showing in the foreground, the sun felt wonderful as I watched Valdovino and Leo add the last of the entablado around the agua canale and . . .

around the steps leading to the pasillo. Do you think we could make a few extra pesos by offering advertising space here?

The hojalateros continued to add sheetmetal caps over the perimeters of the roof ...

as well as adding drainboxes and pipes. Fortunately, we spent considerably less on these leaderheads in comparison to the replacements that the sheetmetal artists installed on our house in Claremont. Ok, I'll admit they were a bit more elaborate in Claremont.

It certainly appeared that outside the house we were ready for the next layer.

Just in time, yet another flete pulled up loaded with revestimientos - siding and tejuela.

Considering how much wood we've already used in the casa, you might think we'd be using wood siding as well. Instead, we opted for the durability and low maintenance of this fibrocemento siding. After a few coats of paint this molded material should closely resemble the real thing.

We spent some time pondering paint colors and looking at local buildings to get some ideas. Kenny, who has many years of experience working with paint and colors, helped us create a mix to our liking. After testing on a couple of tejuela sheets we opted for a combination of castaño (chestnut) with roble (redwood) for our personal blend (top right).

The next morning Juan and Leo started the long process of painting each piece with two coats.

On to the next piece.

The paint dried quickly in the sun and I do think the finished product closely resembled real wood. This siding will cover the front of the casa over top of the plywood.

Painting the siding will take a few days because they'll paint every piece before installing any of it. In the meantime Valdovino setup a table saw to square the ends of each tejuela sheet. Architects really like nice clean edges. A bit of spare fisiterm kept the new door dust free.

These smaller sheets of fibrocemento tejuela, resembling wooden wall shingles, will cover the lower backside of the casa. You see the sheets below, as delivered and then squared. Real tejuela used many different patterns for the bottom edge including triangular, circular, oval, convex, concave, alternating, and you name it. Tejuela usage in Chile started thanks to German immigrants in the 1850's. Originally tejuela was made from the wood of a Chilean nativo, Alerce, a member of the cypress family. Alerce can grow up to 5 meters in diameter, 50 meters tall, and tests have shown that the species can live up to 3600 years. Unfortunately, settlers wiped out a large portion of the Alerce forests to clear land for farming and raising livestock. Currently, Alerce is considered a vulnerable tree. The Chilean government has declared the arbol a natural monument and banned harvesting of it. Another good reason to opt for fibrocemento. For our tejuela we decided on another color blend (mañio and pine) that resembles weathered fir, but we're still debating that choice with Andrés our architect.

Out in front of the pasillo, Kenny directed a backhoe driver clearing the excess dirt.

Eventually the crew will clear out all the wood you see under the raised concrete pasillo and terraza.

Thanks to a few heavy downpours we now have a lovely mudwrestling pit in the yard. At this point one needs quite an imagination, but in front of these floating concrete surfaces we'll plant a sea of rhododendrons, azaleas, lavender, and who knows what else. We'll comb this surface again with the tractor when we near the end of the construction. Thankfully the mudslide didn't bury our newly planted nativos.

The backhoe also sloped the suface for our driveway and along the side of the terraza to ensure good drainage. We don't want to have mudholes like those in the foreground, so a thick layer of gravel will fill the driveway - better sooner than later. I think I'll go have a dark beer. Hope you all have a sunny dry week. Hasta la proxima!!