Cement blocks saga (from Facebook)

 I’m on a roll!

Can’t remember the last time I posted so often on Facebook.

Here’s a progress update on our Big Project. I’ve been going almost every day to check on progress, mostly because I’m so excited and so curious, and take photos. Well, last weekend’s photos confirmed that the cement blocks on one side of the property had been put up in the wrong location! So on Sunday, we had an emergency meeting with the people in charge and after apologizing profusely they said they’d be knocking down the current one and rebuilding them. And now, they’re almost done! Next step will be to start working on the foundation, but we’re not sure yet when that will be. There’s a shortage of carpenters and the head carpenter needs to be decided before they start any work related to the actual building. Hopefully soon!!!

The day we got the property. We recently found out that those bare pipes and the water pipe tied precariously onto a rusted nail with a wire are actually the ones that provide the water supply to the old house. One of the previous owners didn’t want to pay to have it done properly. We told our contractor that we do want to have it done properly and not have bare pipes out in the open. It’s going to cost extra, but it’s gotta be done! Our contractor is in negotiations with the various people he needs to talk with to try and minimize the cost for us.

The demolition process was very slow. I’m sure it was very loud too! 

Photo on the left is the one I sent to our contractor asking him to check if the new cement blocks were being put up in the right location. He confirmed that our x was correct and that having the blocks in that location would not just take away some of the valuable space on the property, but also cause problems with the architect’s plan of the property. The misunderstanding came from the fact that we have to legally leave 40cm from the road right in front of the property to anything we do (plant, build, etc) on the property. Instead of measuring 40cm from the road, the builders measured 40cm from our neighbor’s wall

Clockwise from top left. Big picture changes during the past almost two months. 

The new cement blocks are going up! They have a wooden pole and green string to mark exactly where the wall is supposed to go. Yay! Top left photo was taken from the upstairs balcony of the old house while I had some people looking around inside for quotes.