We finally made it back to Merida, a couple days later than planned but stuff happens. We were running late and grabbed some fish tacos while getting gas in Tulum, I have this general rule not to eat unrefrigerated foods in the summer but I broke it. I dumped a bunch of salsas and mayo on the tacos.
So, we both had a bit of stomach problems this morning. Mostly we laid around and took Treda the wonder drug. About noon we went off to see the house.
That was the first shock. See where that guy in red is in the picture? My sour orange tree used to be right there. They had saved it through all this debris and jackhammering and it was still green and healthy but a bit ragged looking. Well, they just cut it down! The workers apparently decided it would die and wanted it out of the way. After all this time??? I was really sick about it and called the architect to ask about it. He seemed shocked too so I guess someone will catch it over it but that won't bring back my tree. It's gone, and I'm going on because there is no sense in berating people for something they can't change.
The bigger overall problem is quite a huge one. This is the biggest problem we've had in the entire renovation and I still don't know what all the ramifications will be. When they were digging the cistern in the garage they hit a very large cave! It's huge and it goes under several rooms of the house. In fact, the big rains last week caused water to come in from the street and part of the hall floor collapsed into the cave.
Why couldn't this SOB have been in the back yard and saved me all those weeks of jackhammer and compressor rental? Mimi got down in it with her pocket light and could see the extent of it. I don't know how they can put a water tank on top of a hole and I am now worried about the whole front of the house. This sucks.
We are meeting the architect at the house tomorrow morning to find out what he suggests. Wish us luck that this won't break the bank.
posted by Jonna at 1:40 AM
10 Comments:
My fingers are crossed, I hope there is a simpler solution to this than it might seem. I would have freaked over it, but the good is that you found it now and not later under worse circumstances.
I see two possible solutions here...one is to create a rebar and concrete pad over the hole and move ahead as planned....
The second solution requires a bit of imagination on your part...this could be one of those stops on a cruise ship adventure tour...Visit the house to see a bit of old world Merida (remodeled) and then go spelunking....might be quite the hit!!!!
Whatever you do, please be careful with gases and whatever else might be down in that hole. Kathe
OMG! What a horrible turn of events! I sure hope you can find a good solution that doesn't have your house collapsing in on you at a later date. Please keep us posted on this.
A free basement!! I'm sure your architect will have some good ideas for you, this kind of thing is pretty common here.
When our neighborhood was being built one of the lots had a big cenote on it. The developers put a big steel plate over it and built the house on top of it. I'm not sure that was the best solution, but 15 years later the house is still standing there.
Personally I think they should have put a community pool there...
Holy cow!! What I want to know is how the people who originally built the house didn't know it was there?
I hope you can find a workable solution that doesn't break the bank...fingers and toes crossed for you!
Yikes. You guys always have more exciting lives than the rest of us!
It sounds as though this might not be that unusual so hopefully they have run into it before and have some good options for you.
We'll have our fingers crossed.
i'm thinking wine cellar!
it will work out, always does.
(i don't know how mimi does it... i'd freak out going down there, much less going in there)
wow! all I can say is wowowowowow! underseveral rooms? was that the septic then? The sour orange irritates me, well, now you can chose where to plant the next one. We'll take a nice cutting off my tree and start one for you. I have this theory that the mason is the natural enemy of the garden. I don't dare total up how many plants I have lost to them.
the floor collasped? gulp...
regards,
Theresa
Rachel, Ya know, I wonder that sometimes myself! Can't think about it too much before hand that's for sure!
Kathe, It's not so deep and pretty well ventilated, your concern is well founded.
Any updates? Decisions?
Does it appear that any part of the cave holds water? What material covers the floor of the cave & if soft, how deep?
I'm thinking of lemonade. In our hot climate, inexpensive cooling solutions seem welcome, yes? If there is water, you could submerge an array of plumbing as a cooling system: pumping the cooled water from the plumbing web into a cooling radiator in the house, with a fan blowing through the cooler. Ground temps would seem to be around 60º(?), so, it wouldn't be as effective as an A/C but much less expensive, needing a small circulating pump and a fan.
Alternately, if the cave is relatively dry, & smells ok (no mold?), couldn't you install a large air vent pipe (12" or so?) from the cave into the house? Place a fan on the outlet into the house, sucking a nearly endless supply of cool air???
What'cha think?
Post a Comment
<< Home