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:

One More Gate.

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. 

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. 

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

Stone Carving In Mexico from 2/24/10.

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.)

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:

Making Fired Bricks In Alamos, Sonora.

 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.)

Adobes In Ruins In Alamos, Sonora

We happened to notice this old adobe ruins 

along one of our walking routes in Alamos.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.