Raising the Roof in Mexico

Well, we're building again! During our winter furlough, God provided the funds necessary to pour a roof on the upstairs section of the house. The boys, well, actually we all are very excited!!! Here's what the house looked like as of 2 weeks ago:

Last Friday the truck from the construction yard showed up...

The guys unloaded the bricks, blocks, steel and bags of concrete and then had a Coke. That's a bit of a tradition here in Mexico: share a Coke with someone!

Once the supplies were ready, it was time for Doug and Ramon to take off the old, wooden roof...

...and attach the forms for the pouring of the new roof.

These two steps needed to be done in one day, since taking off the old roof would leave the house open to the elements and, more importantly, to the mosquitos. Ack!!!

With the forms securely in place, it was time to haul the bricks and the steel to the roof. That was the boys' project for Tuesday. The losetas (flat, limestone bricks) were laid in their place and then the steel reinforcements were put in. This process took a couple of days, but on Wednesday night, the roof was ready to pour, with electrical conduits, light boxes and even a skylight in place (Thanks, Grandpa Tony!).

Thursday was the Day to Pour. Around 8 a.m. or so, we decided that it might be a good idea to move all the stuff under the stairs -- in the off chance that some gunk might come through the hole. Ha! Off chance! More like a sure bet!

Sure enough, one of the guys up top forgot to stuff paper in a couple of the cracks in the form boards.

Cement came pouring through where the daylight is shining in. Oops! Fortunately, there was nothing under the stairs!!! To be honest, when those pebbles and drips came falling in, those of us in the house thought the roof was caving in! Directly below the hole is the metal staircase and the rocks echoed throughout the house as they struck each step on the way down. It made me jump!

The crew of guys from Boca showed up about 8:30 a.m. and began pouring at 9. You could best describe the mood as "festive". I was reminded of the stories I've heard of the old-fashioned barn-raising parties of the pioneer days!

All together, there were over 200 photos from the event. Limiting the number of photos for this post was a challenge! Here are a few to give you an idea of what was going on:

Pastor Ricardo, Brother Aresteo, Caleb and a couple of other guys manned the cement machine.

Cement was mixed in the mixer and then poured into 5 gallon buckets (about half full).

These buckets were then carried to the house and lifted to the roof where they were dumped...

...and then thrown down to repeat the process.

Most of the guys switched places about half-way through so that no one had to carry or lift those 50 pound buckets for the whole time. One guy, though, simply amazed me! He took his stand on the first scaffold at the beginning of the morning and didn't leave. He did this for two hours straight...

All I could say was, "Wow!"

So, by about 11, the roof was poured and the gang took a break for cinnamon rolls and Coca-Cola. Ramon and José Luis spent a couple of hours smoothing the surface and then we called it a day. A very productive day.