Friday, September 30, 2011

Discount Ceramic And Stone Tile Work



When we were remodeling our house 
we had occasion to do a fair amount of tile work
 and one of the projects was a front gate. 

Years before I had bought a whole pallet of Indiana limestone 
in 3/4" and 2" thick x 2' square pieces at the local stone yard
 that was left over from a large order. 

They wanted to get rid of it
 and gave me a great price to take it all away.

The last bits of it I used on top of the stone pilasters 
as part of the gate project.

To see how I did this go to the post:

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Concrete Chimneys, Skylights, And Cooling Vents In Mexico



All over Mexico one sees beautiful examples of preformed concrete work, 
and in this post I will concentrate on chimneys, skylights, and cooling vents.

I have never watched how they make these but
 I am assuming they are indeed preformed. 

Monday, September 26, 2011

Trail Work At Valley View Hot Springs



Allison and I found ourselves at Valley View Hot Springs 
in Colorado in 2009 volunteering to do some trail work
on a steep trail at about 9000' on the west slope
 of the Sangre De Cristo mountains. 


Above are Allison and a wonderful
 fellow, Rob Bob, who wanted to help and as Rob Bob goes by 
both names we affectionately combined them.

 He was a wonderful, fun person to work with 
in this strenuous, hard work and we all had a great time. 

Friday, September 23, 2011

Carved Stone In Mexico



I love working with stone and I love carved stone,
but I have never been a stone carver;
 but in our travels around Mexico in the last couple of years we
 have run across some beautiful work that I would like to share.

Please Note: this is a reworking of the post

Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Concrete Hip Roof In San Carlos, Sonora



The last post showed how the walls were made,
 this time I want to show how the roof is formed up and poured with concrete.

This house ( different from the one in the last post ) is next to the church in 
San Carlos, Sonora.


(Please Note: This post is a reworking of 
The Formed Roof from 2/23/10.)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Building A Brick House In Mexico



I have always been very curious about building in Mexico and 
this winter I have been trying to learn more about the various facets.

To see how the bricks are made go to the post:

 They rarely use wood because of termites and the cost of lumber.

(Please Note: This is a reworking of the post
Building Mexico from 2/23/10.)


Saturday, September 17, 2011

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Garden Ornaments- Fine Art To Folk Art



At this time of year as the garden begins to fade,
but the weather is nice,
we start to notice the extras in the garden that stay with us year round.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Ideas For The Portal



Since my last post was on the hip roof I thought this might be a good time 
to add a couple of thoughts about the portal, 
or porch as it is known in the non-spanish speaking world.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Hip Roof



When we built a two story addition on our first house in Santa Fe, N.M.
 ( background, above ) I tried to keep the overall look as low as possible
 because there were only a few two story homes in our neighborhood 
and I didn't want to stick out any more than I had to; 
and the roof with the lowest visual profile is the hip
because there are no tall gable ends.

From that I found the hip to be a far superior roof system
 as it gives the house more protection in high wind areas
 and because there is an overhang all around it keeps the walls drier from the rain
 and more shaded from the hot summer sun.

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Mexican Style Mortared Stone Work



An interesting style in stone work we have seen traveling around Mexico
 is inserting small stones in the mortar joints.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Glen Burnie Gardens In Winchester, Va.



Glen Burnie is a house  first built in the early 18th century next to a series of springs,
 and land from the estate was used to establish the town of Winchester, Virginia in the 1740's.








Friday, September 2, 2011

Fixer Upper In Alamos, Sonora



We met some folks from New Mexico 
who were fixing up this house in Alamos, Sonora 
and they invited us over to take a look.

Pat and Steve live part of the year in Abiquiu, New Mexico 
and and the rest of the time here.

As we approach the house on a steep hill we notice how they have
terraced it off creating lots of space on different levels.