Upcoming Phils trip update

[Lancer]

It sounds hopeless. If only I were a little smarter I think there may be a solution out there somewhere.

Zkrib, Tito stopped by the house. The detailed drawings take a bit more time so he said he can send you zip files of them when they are done "next week". He also said that there will be 5 hard copies of which one will be on site. I said not for the site, for Sho who is the foreman. Something tells me he doesn't like that but I can't be sure.

He also came by to tell me he is getting the permit to cut the trees.

Also he said he will be on site Monday when we start and to make sure we dig all the way down to a good foundation which of course is the plan.

He started telling about water and electric and I told him Sho had it all well in hand already and is dealing with both.

[Lancer]

Ray and Ado are busy with rice harvest in Mabini. So for the laundry room we have Sho, Iking and Elmer. For the excavation we have Rigo, Bia, Insik, and the 2 pro seawall builders Tayo and Felimon. With the family labor crew busy elsewhere Dolores went ahead and brought those guys on since three is not enough. I can personally vouch for their hard work and knowledge. The are P300 so a dollar a day more.

Today, Sunday, Sho is meeting the lumber guys who will take down the trees. They will cut them today and then turn them into lumber for the project.

[Zkribbler]

IMHO Tito is nowhere near as computer savvy as he makes out to be. He thought he'd have the plans to me before I left, but they're still not done. And remember the e-mail I sent him? He never responded. Pick his brain when you need to, but don't let him try and throw his weight around on the site. You & Sho are handling the situation perfectly! Tito talks a good game, but I think a lot is bluffing.

I'll e-mail Theresa and assure her that you have authority to bring on replacement workers at salaries you think fair.

I bought the sawblades today. I should be able to get them over to LBC on Monday. I also got the waterfall pump and a small set of underwater lights for when we get to the roof.

Let me run an idea up the flagpole and see if anyone tears it down and burns it. I'm reconsidering your fiberglass roof idea. Fiberglass would do well in the laundryroom. It's waterproof, and it will let in some extra light preventing the place from becoming too dungeonlike. But will it cause a security problem while being used for storage during construction?

For the house, keep the ten pillars Tito proposes - only instead of the peaked roof, crown the pillars with a retangular halo of concrete to form the outer border of the roof. The height of the halo itself will be the width of one of those big tile squares. Then, within the circumference of the retangular halo, we can have a fiberglass roof. The slope can be slight, so the fiberglass shelters within the concrete halo during a storm. And a drainage system can be contained within the halo itself. When the roof is done, we tile the halo with some attractive pastel color.

What do you think?

[Theben]

Needs more marble columns!!

[Lancer]

I think the laundry room which is down on the ground really should have a cement roof so it doesn't get really hot. I think your small stone idea would be perfect there, but that can wait until you get here and see for yourself. The only thing that makes fiberglass ok up above is the air movement and I'm even reconsidering using fiberglass on my place since mine is also small and will get light in from the sides too.

Besides that, definate low security at street level.

The columns are a Tito thing, I have no clue about them. I do believe from what he was saying is that they are ornamental so I'd bet they can't hold any weight. For ornamental stuff like that I'd suggest you choose it when the place is up and you are here, in the same way you would choose paint or tile.

The real deals that carry the weight are the cement and rebar posts.

Those could extend up and carry a cement circumference floor like a halo. On that you could build most any roof, but I think you might lose the look that made those early drawings so appealing.

Normally they would extend those structural posts up and build a tie beam that functions as your halo but is hidden for the most part within the structure of the roof. That said, I don't know what Tito called for in his drawings.

Of course, if you decide on a fiberglass flying roof as I originally envisioned it's a very lightweight structure and really doesn't need cement posts at all. I was going to go with stainless pipes which are removed from decommisioned ships in Cebu and welded together in varying lengths with stainless welding rods none of which we really know how to find yet and would have to go looking for with Dolores's brother Teddy Sr who is a seaman on a freighter current location unknown and likely back after we leave.

Besides, that main house roof is a looong way off and hopefully you'll be here to make little drawings and graph paper side cut views if any new technique structural element for review by the Garcia people that permit construction, etc.

Thanks for picking up the blades.

We ordered the materials yesterday iirc for a cement roof laundry/storage building 2m by 3m with a temp wood wall on one side and no poured floor for the moment. If in the next 7 hours you confirm a change to a fiberglass roof by making a post which I'll check for before we leave and can try to alter the existing order for delivery on the way to your place. If not we'll build it as earlier planned cuz we gotta do somethin tomorrow.

[Zkribbler]

Cement roof for the laundry room it is. Remember to put a few slanty decorative brinks [like by the stairs on your Jagna house] on the streetside of the laundry room to let the wind pass through.

It doesn't sound like you're building the peripheral wall yet. But when you do -- and I think I mentioned this once to Tito when you were there -- I think the main gate to the property from off the street should be somewhere near the laundryroom because of that big patch of ground with no trees.

[Lancer]

I've got some pics coming of the first day on the job. The guys are on their lunch hour and Sho is picking up some stuff for the forms. I'm done, they know what they are about now.

Tito was on the site this morning and any concerns I had are now gone. He has a really good understanding of the wall, stairs, landing and house. I had a question prepared about where the house and wall meet in relation to the stairs and he answered it perfectly, even describing the landing at the junction of the 2 walls. He will stop by the site daily and I will wander over to take pics once in a while and make sure things are proceeding as planned. However, after this morning I really believe that my role will be limited.

I also mentioned to Tito that he should answer his email since you were wondering where your reply was and he said he hadn't checked it, but I have a funny feeling that won't happen again. I hope.

Sho also is a driving force behind the workers, everywhere he needs to be, got a good grasp of the plan and asks questions when he doesn't. Everything you want in a foreman, plus his heart is really in it.

He has water to the site already.

Pics coming up soon.

[Lancer]

First things first. Sunday (yesterday) at the beach.

Netnet and christina in the kitchen...

[Lancer]

Jasmine being Jasmine...

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Dolores and Lancer...

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Tina lookin great

[Lancer]

Aeson, NetNet, Tina, and my dear Dolores

[Lancer]

On to today...

The cleared work area with wood cut. That job was taken care of and arianged by Sho yesterday, Sunday, before the party.

[Lancer]

First order of business is to clear the area...

[Lancer]

I helped carry stuff too, but couldn't take a pic of me doing so sooo...