UNDER CONSTRUCTION "Tico Style" Our New Casa in Costa del Sol ~ Stage 1 - The Foundation

Building a home in Costa Rica is a fascinating and amazing experience!  From the temporary Tico construction bodega to the earthquake and tropical storm proof materials and the most interesting methods of application, observing this process from start to finish is very interesting and educational!

Being involved in the real estate and home building industry in Alabama for the past 20 years it has been fun to see the different materials and techniques that are used here in Costa Rica.  I have been accustomed to hearing the saying "Bricks & Sticks"  but there is none of that here.  Due to the climate that includes many tropical storms and the regular movement of the earth with earthquakes the homes are typically constructed  with masonry concrete blocks filled with concrete and finished with stucco.  And lots and lots of RE BAR! 

It all began with the construction of a temporary bodega built to house some of the tools and provide some shelter from the sun and rain for the workers.  A simple lean to built with 2 x 4's and metal roof and siding this construction office was completed in a short time and no time was wasted to get started with the foundation of our new home!

Re bar was hand cut into the perfect lengths to use as stakes and the strings were pulled to form the foundation and mark the placement of the footings.

I was so impressed with the skill of the workers hand building the re bar forms to put into the ditches to fill with concrete for the footings.   Each piece was cut to the correct length and then hand twisted to form a square and then hand wired onto long pieces of re bar to build the forms to put into the foundation.  There were also MANY very long pieces of re bar placed vertically into the foundation where all of the concrete block walls would go.  The concrete blocks were then threaded onto the bars as they were smeared with mortar to form the walls.  The plumbers and Urbina the electrician were all there too to place the stub outs for the drains and water sources and conduit to run the electrical wiring.

My trips to the job site were always a pleasure with smiling happy greetings from the many workers who were all busily involved in the job they were assigned to.  There were so many scurrying around that it reminded me of a maze of invisible walls with people going in every direction but yet never bumping into one another.  On the fourth day I watched as they mixed together a mixture of concrete mix into a big mound on the ground and then artfully shaped it into a big bowl and filled it with water and began to stir it into a paste of mortar.  I was a bit concerned that the large amount of concrete needed would be mixed in this fashion when lo and behold on day five when I arrived there were two small concrete mixers sitting there ready to churn the magic mud that would bond our home together.

And so began the days of many wheelbarrows being filled with this magical mortar to pour the footings, spread out to form the floor and fill the walls so that no one could huff and puff to blow our house down!  Another interesting device that  was used was a large shiny metal box with a long hose.  The hose was laid down into the wet concrete and when turned on it vibrated the concrete to force all of the air bubbles out of the mixture.

Only one week down and what amazing progress!
All of the walls are defined and are block by block rising to form the rooms of our future haven in paradise!  The windows and doors are taking shape and I am already visually placing my furniture in the spaces!  I can envision the outdoor spaces and where all of the beautiful plants will go to form our little tropical garden that I will see from the kitchen window as I do the dishes........
Ah yes.....Living the Pura Vida!  Just a few more concrete blocks away!

Thank you Jhonny and Alejo 
for doing such a great job!

Please enjoy the photos of  Stage 1 - The Foundation in this video and stay tuned in the next few weeks for Stage 2!  We hope that you will enjoy the building our new Casa with us and that you will plan YOUR vacation in Paradise soon!  We would love to build YOU a Casa too!

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Pura Vida from Costa del Sol!