During these last two weeks I have hardly spoken to anybody, have slept very little, have not been near town, and have had my emails piling up without being answered. What has caused me to be so involved? A bathroom.
Plumbing and preparing the walls.
Nope, I am not talking about diarrhoea or anything like that. We are currently building a bathroom – the last part of the Prayer House that needs to be done before it is completely finished. As everybody is heading off to Peru or Bariloche within the next two weeks, there is very little time left to get it finished.
The base of the bathroom – our starting point only a few weeks ago.
So I now have a goal of having the bathroom completed to operational stage by this next Friday. There may be a few extra details to finish after that, but it needs to be ready to use by then. Once it is in use we can finish off the details with more leisure.
Right now the walls are rendered but need their finishing coats, the electrical cables are installed but are awaiting the painting of the walls first, the floor is poured but needs to be raised with a small wall for the shower areas, and the roof is in place but needs concrete poured into it. A wall for the water tank needs to be built on top of the roof too, and the final plumbing sorted out, plus floor and wall tiling.
Necessity drives… bringing needed items home by bike.
In reading the things written down here it sounds like there is a fair bit to do, but there are a bunch of people helping me out and based on the progress of last week I believe it is possible. So after today we are going to be going flat-out on it until it is done. And then I can rest.
The Plumbing
Gabriel prepares the walls for the water pipes.
Marking the pipes for cutting.
Cutting the waterpipes with my new grinder/cutter.
Juan Pablo helps me connect to the mains water supply.
Preparing the Roof
Danny helps us to lift up the concrete beams to the roof.
Gaby helps me to lay the beams on the roof.
Placing the beams on the roof with Gaby.
Paul cuts the dags off the roofing beams.
Rendering the Walls
Rendering the final part of one wall.
Fabian helps tremendously with rendering the walls.
Juan Pablo helps mix the concrete for the walls.
Other Related Stuff
To get the rocks and sand that we need, we make trips down to the local dry creek bed and bring it back one wheelbarrow at a time.
Vicky helps out by painting the main front door.
Paul helps me prepare the electrical installations.
Juan Pablo waiting for the next call for cement.
Water tank, floor and wall tiles, cement and cal – all needed for the bathroom.
A full house – foam roof bricks, toilet and lots of tools needed for the bathroom.
