Finally, we have rain

It has been a while since we have had a good rain, but last night it poured for a good hour or so. It also put on a good light show on the distant clouds, with lightning about every couple of seconds. It was too far away to hear the thunder, but the light show was enough. There has been rain in Chetumal and in Corozal, just not here in Consejo. It just seems to pass us by.

The work site was a mess with all the mud and water and they needed to empty the cistern and pool before they could start their work, so things got off to a slow start. But they had a job pouring concrete around the pool and cistern that needed to be done today. A little rain won't stop these guys. They did need to dig a small trench to drain some of the water from around the retaining wall but the concrete pour went ahead as scheduled. Things are starting to move along.

John has scheduled us to go over to Chetumal, Mexico on Friday, to look at a window manufacturer that may have a better price and/or quality than he is getting right now. With so few construction jobs going on in the area right now, suppliers are lining up to do business with him. He stresses quality first, then price. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to offer.

On Saturday, Phil Freytag was looking for company on the drive down to Orange Walk, a medium size town about an hour or so drive from Consejo. I had no plans that day, so I said sure. I had only been through Orange Walk once, and that was driving through at night, after I had flown into Belize City. Phil had some places he needed to visit, but was willing to show me around the town and stop in the few places that I had wanted to see. We stopped in a couple of tile shops and hardware stores that he thought I should know about. It's a much different city than Corozal. It's geared more towards the business sector and manufacturing and had many more big businesses than Corozal. The tile shops had a nice selection of tiles and trim, so I don't think we will have a problem finding tiles that we like. The hardware store, though, is no Home Depot. They are more like a small town hardware store, but unfortunately, what they have is what you get. There is not a lot of selection and you must be willing to improvise with what you do have access to.

After showing me around Orange Walk, he took me to a wonderful Chinese resturant, Mr. Lee's, where we had a plentiful lunch and a price that couldn't be beat. Three entrees', a Belikin, Coke and water cost all of $38 Belize, or about $19US. That meal would have been double that in Camarillo. I haven't had the guts to try any of the many Chinese food places in Corozal. They just don't look that appetizing.

After lunch we went over to where they made the pilings that they drove for me at the Shores. Quite an operation they have there, making pilings, T-bars and pre-manufactured septic tanks. It was really dusty though and probably a miserable place to work when the wind kicks up. I'm sure last nights' rain helped that situation. They showed us around all of the manufacuring facilities and how they pre-stress the concrete.

After that we went over to another brick and pre-stressed concrete manufacturing facility, Rick's, that was in town. They are a business that really wants to expand their product line and are looking for new ways to do just that. Phil had worked with some of Rick's clients before, so they were able to "talk shop" and catch up on old connections.

It was getting late in the afternoon, around 3PM and we had been gone for about 6 hours, so it was time to head back to Consejo. It was a pleasant drive with everchanging scenery and even a Mayan ruin or two. We were back in Consejo in no time. It was a very informative trip that I will probably do again before I leave.

Day 2 of driving piles.

The truck with the needed pilings showed up a little late today and they started driving piles around 9AM. They have ten piles to be driven, so everything should be wrapped up by today.

John Harris and Zane, the owner of the piling company.

Cutting the piles down to size.

Watching piles being driven is like watching paint dry... not very exciting. Or at least that's the way you want it to be. And the shaking of the ground was almost non-existant. From Pip and Jasons' place, next door, you couldn't tell there were piles being driven. No ground movement at all.

As it gets closer to the end of the day, the last two piles are left to be driven. It's almost over. Or so I thought. The last in a series of piles that had all been driven down about 30 feet, we were going to sink a 40 footer. That would leave about 10 feet of piling, exposed above ground. And that would be cut to 3 feet with the top 1 foot of concrete broken off to expose the steel strands just like the others in the previous pictures. But watching them drive this pile was different. After the first 3 or 4 feet of topsoil, the pile dropped 6 feet in one pounding. The next pounding, another 4 feet disappeared. Ten feet in two poundings. We are now down 15 feet and sinking fast. But, if the results are the same as the previous pilings in this row, the resistance should start at about 25 feet and stiffen up at around 29-31 feet, just like the six more before in the same area.

Unfortunately, this was not to be the case this time. The pile driver kept driving, and our pile kept sinking. 20, 25, 30 feet went by, just like that. The other piles were now at the same height, but this 40 foot pile had more to go. 35 and now 40. The pile driver now has the piling at ground level. And still has more to go. Then we find the cavern.

The pile driver has now pounded this 40 foot pile, 44 feet in the ground. It is at this point that the piling has finally met stiff resistance. Four feet below gound level we found an open cavern that was large enough to probably stand inside. Phil has given his OK to stop driving the pile.

Cutting the piling to expose the rebar, below ground level.

John will form up a cast with rebar and type 1 cement to bring this post up to the correct height. He said it's not a problem to do this. So that will be done another day. We have finished driving piles. And that's a good thing. We may fill in a portion of the cavern, but there is no need to crush and fill it all. That's why we went with the pilings. It turned out to be a wise decision.

Everyone is happy that the pile driving is done!

And Let the Pilings Begin…

After all the delays in getting to Belize, the rescheduling of various aspects of the construction and redesigns of the plans, the piling work has begun.

It started this morning with John Harris, my contractor, and Phil Freytag, my consulting engineer, coming over to my studio apartment for coffee and to go over some final details regarding the pilings. The piling trucks had not arrived, because I drove to the lot first thing this morning. They were coming around noon.

John took me around to a few of the pools he has built in the area. He has done some beautiful work and everyone seems to be very happy with his results.

From there, he showed me a good spot for breakfast, Miss June’s Kitchen, on College Road. She also bakes her own bread that is not as sweet as the other breads around here. I’m not used to the sweet types of bread so I will definitely be back.

From there, it was over to the cabinet maker, Ravy Gongora. He has an extensive shop with various woods in the rough cut form. With that, he makes beautiful kitchen cabinets, dressers, night stands, and whatever else you may need. Just use your imagination and I’m sure he could make it come true…..and at a good price. His work rivals any I’ve seen in the States. We toured his shop and saw projects in various stages of completion.

Then John got the call we had been expecting. The pilings were in Consejo. And we were in Corozal. Less than twenty minutes later we are pulling into Consejo Shores just as the pile driver is being unloaded from the trailer. This pile driver is on tracks instead of wheels, which you will see, is the best way for my situation.

On another truck, they have 6 – 30 foot pilings and 4 – 40 foot pilings. We had requested a couple of 35 footers, but I don’t think they had any in stock. I know….tomorrow.
So Phil lined up the first piling, forty footer, placing it in the middle corridor of the structure. We were using this as our test piling. How deep would it go before it would reach the 59,000 pounds of pressure that Phil was looking to achieve. John needs about 3 ½ feet of piling above ground so he can attach the support beams.

All of this was a guessing game. You can’t see below the ground, so the pile driver just pounds away until it reaches the point of 12 to 15 driver poundings per foot or more. Let me tell you, there were times that the pile would drop 3 feet with just one pounding of the 3000 pound dead weight. I’m thinking next stop-China. Or worse, we need bigger pilings. Every pound of that machine, every foot of pilings, were dollars flowing out of my pocket. Would it stop?

But after about 25 feet, the ground began to show some resistance. You could actually see the piling bounce and come back up. The first piling on our lot settled at 29 feet into the ground. We have 11 feet above ground. Phil and John decide to put the next pile on the other side of the middle corridor, in the same position as the first pile. It too, will be a forty footer. It too pounds down to about 30 feet, leaving about 10 feet above ground. Now we decide to pound one of the thirty footers on the eastern wall, in a straight line with the other two pilings. It pounds down to the almost ideal height of three feet. So now we pound three other thirty footers, all along the east wall of the guest bedroom and bath. They too end up with just three feet or so above ground, the perfect height.

Now we have two thirty footers and a forty footer left, but will they be long enough? Phil and John consult, and agree that thirty five footers should do the trick. But we need to order them by 5PM. So Phil heads home to make a phone call. We want thirty five and a couple of forty footers.

But during the minor celebration of figuring out what we wanted, came a new problem. The crane, during the process of driving another forty foot piling began to sink in a hidden cavern. What started off as a minor cavern collapse was turning into a serious problem and even the possibility of the crane overturning. The crane was in a bad position and needed to free itself of the cement pilings. After some heavy duty pushing and pulling by the crew, to free the actual pile driver, the crane was able to move the crane portion to a forward position enabling the crane to right itself and slowly drive out from the collapsed cavern. It was touch and go for a few minutes there.

But with the crane resituated, the pile driving began again. A total of eight piles were driven today. Ten more to go. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.