TalkBaja.com » Baja Mexico Forums » Building your Baja dream home

Wow, being new to this board, this is the first time I've seen this thread. I looked at the beginning and then followed some of the photos of the construction. It's amazing to see it come to life so quickly. Well, for me it was quick. Now you are almost 2 years in to construction, huh?

That's going to be a great place to hang out.

Hell...just found this post. Great stuff Atomic Man!

I did the same with our house. Really cool to look back on the headaches :-)

I havent read all of these pages yet.....but again...great job

Thanks guys - it has been a work of love with a zillion details but I have enjoyed every step...

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Thanks guys - it has been a work of love with a zillion details but I have enjoyed every step...

When is the first official party planned?

Originally Posted by Bob H

When is the first official party planned?

Now there's a guy with his priorities in order!

Got my party hat on......waiting :tinfoil:

Great pics of your BIG project...

Having helped my folks build two cinder block homes in years past, I feel sorry for your rough, cracked skin hands when you get involved with all that rock work - lots of mortar to handle, don't you know...

Congrats on all you hard work, sure looks like a winner!

In the beginning my hands were taking a beating until I found these neat gloves. They fit tight to your hands with spandex like material on the back. The palms/fingers are coated with a rubber like material that stands up well to abuse. I was going through a pair a week on average but they really made working with rock/block/mortar a breeze. You don't lose the tactile feel like most gloves do and now I use them for everything - working on the car, etc...

I have used that type for a while now, they work great and are affordable. I was looking at LongLegz construction pics, and saw a guy helping with the slab pour wearing tennis shoes (I assume, because he was ankle deep in concrete) and shorts. I learned the hard way (same way I seem to learn everything) to isolate myself from concrete. It literally disolves skin, and will create burn-like wounds. Rubber boots are cheap compared to having a guy limping around with seeping sores on his feet for a couple of weeks!

Rubber boots, eye protection (if using a pump truck, they splatter!), long sleeves and long pants and rubber gloves are essential safety equipment. I assume that the workers won't have that stuff themselves (just like my employees didn't) so I had designated gloves and boots for the crew during concrete pours. I hate wearing all that crap, but it's better than suffering for the next week! (or getting a blob of concrete in your eye and not having an eye wash cup nearby!!)

Islander ... you HAVE been around concrete... good information.. it all helps.. thanks..

got some in my eye once... was not fun getting it out... like ya say... with out a eyewash station...

Never get in concrete without rubber boots .If you ever get concrete poision you will never forget it. I tied steel most of my working life and I have always hated gloves you cant imagine what a mess my hands were. Years ago i found a remedy that heals and prevents dry cracked bleading hands Its a product called BAG BALM. you can find it at most feed stores . It works ana a can will last a long time.

Bag Balm was originally designed to use on cows' udders. It's fantastic stuff. Corn Huskers Lotion also works well for scaly, irritated skin.

It's really hard to get workers to wear rubber-anything in this climate.

I loved the construction work for a long time it gave Me a sense of fufilment.I worked in the Galerea Area in Houston Texas for about 13 years straight Even today when i go out there I get a special feeling
working in that climate was difficult It was most always humid and wet .The Bag Balm healed my hands from bloody and bleading to whehe i could maniluplate them sometimes it seemed like overnight

I used Bag Balm during my commercial fishing lifetime. Gloves were impossible, too many fine motor skills needed to pick fish from a mono gillnet. The fine web cuts the joints in each finger joint which then gets infected via fish gurry. Bag Balm let my hands heal overnight and eliminated "fisherman claw hands".

I hate wearing gloves, especially heavy rubber gloves with high tops to protect the wrist from the corrosive concrete, but better to get used to the gloves then to loose the use of your hands for a few days after every pour!

A bit of wisdom from the job site: Carefully consider what you get good at!! Because whatever you get a reputation for doing well, you will find yourself doing a lot!

Setting block and finishing sheet rock spring to mind as things not to get too good at!

For a lot of years I worked on poured in place high rise construction.I normaly worked as general foreman or supeintendent the company I worked for did what they called flying forms we could pour a floor a week with about a 300yd. a day average. the only reason we couldnt go faster it took that long for the concrete to set up.The foundation pour uaually was in the range of 6,000 yds which was poured in two pours. In my 28 years as a Ironworker I was involved in some rather large projects. You could say I was experinced in Reinforced concrete structers of all kinds.As for the being good at it I never had to look for a job,And as a end result I get to live in Baja in relrtive comefortable life style WAS it worth it You Bet IT Was.

Wow, interesting information coming up on this tghread. Bag Balm, never have heard of it.

Bag Balm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You guys are sure bringing back so memories of years past..

Safety gear was something which we used to have to wear... worked doing line construction as a young man ... some stuff was "hot" and you would have to "rubber" up too...

Working up a pole on "climbing hooks" with a tool belt in power, in temps well over 100º, with rubber gloves that went to your shoulders with "leather gloves" on top of that ... made working just a whole bunch of fun... then throw in wind, flying insects and a few other things..

Was 1964 and we had to start wearing hard hats... which most did not object too that much.. a familiar saying in the work "head ache" !!! .. and could mean anything from a bolt to a chain hoist would be coming your way quickly... so drop what ever and run like hell.... bolts and nuts dropped a couple hundred feet from above on a 235' steel tower could hit a brace or leg on the way down and would become like shrapnel..

I got out of that occupation by going back to school nights and getting an education ... good pay.. but, way dangerous... think crab fishing is about the same.. we used to lose at least one on every job...

My old man liked to buy little 2 BR/1BA houses in Orange County way back in the day. They were a very common house built back in the 30's/40's and they were a bargain at that time. He would call in his construction crew (us) and immediately go to work pouring a slab and adding on another bedroom and bath.

He gained a rental and I learned an awful lot about construction. Being the youngest it was always my duty to crawl up in the attic, pulling wire, etc.

That experience has served me well down here...

OK - for those of you complaining there hasn't been any updates, here is the garage and workshop taking off...

.

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

OK - for those of you complaining there hasn't been any updates, here is the garage and workshop taking off...

.

Nice! Look forward to the progress!

Ron, how many square feet will your garage be?