All About Dirt
Posted on February 21, 2010 - Filed Under Guatemala, construction | 6 Comments
When our house was built, we knew the ground at the back of the property where we were building was not at the right level for drainage to the street. So the house was built considerably above ground level, with the plan to fill everything in later.
Fast forward five years and we’ve been using cement blocks to get in and out of rooms all this time. The bathroom was particularly tricky because when the abañil showed up to build it (the second to work on the bathroom and the 9th builder overall), he declared that the bathroom needed to be higher . . . our original house was built too low, despite days of measuring and doing who knows what with hoses and water and air bubbles to make sure the drainage would work.
So we had two levels of somewhat wobbly concrete blocks going up to the bathroom, a serious dip on the way to the house (the bathroom is built separate from the house) and lots of places to fall over on your way out of the house. Not to mention, drainage pipes that were at chest height as you left our yard. And for years, every time I complained, I heard, “When we can get dirt in here, it won’t be a problem.”
Well, we’ve got dirt. Not enough to fill in the whole yard yet, mind you, but enough to fill in the entrance and the area in front of the bathroom, so we could finally connect the sink drainage (otherwise the pipe would have been at chest height, blocking our exit) and even the tub is now draining, albeit on the other side of the bathroom from where it should be. The pila has been lifted and placed in its new, up high position.
Now, we still need about 50 square meters of dirt. And around here, dirt is HARD to get. Don’t ask me why . . . it seems that half the people building homes are removing dirt and half are putting it in, so really, why can’t we just all be friends and level things out?
Irving spent a lot of time talking to people who had dirt to give away. One man offered to truck it to us. He paid a driver to bring us several pickup loads. The driver never arrived and it was later discovered that he took the homeowner’s money and then took the dirt to someone who paid him for the dirt . . . so he got paid twice to haul it.
Finally, we found a place that was willing to give us the dirt. A block from our house. Unfortunately, we had no way of getting it from the bottom of the hill to our place. It was too much dirt to haul in a wheelbarrow and pickup drivers wanted to charge us Q50 (about $6.25) per load. The problem? We needed over 60 square meters and a pickup truck only holds a meter. Which means a LOT of trips and a LOT of money!
After about two weeks, Irving found a widow who has a pickup truck and who was interested in bringing in some extra cash. She offered to haul the dirt for Q20 a load, if the guys (Irving and his cousin) did the shoveling. She could only do 3 loads a day before work, but that was fine, because the guys were pretty much ready to keel over by the time they’d hauled the three truck loads back here and they were able to pile the dirt high, so it was more than a meter each trip.
The place where they are building has finished digging out the area where they need to build the first room, so they’ve stopped excavating. We’re welcome to take the rest of the dirt, they say . . . as long as WE pay someone to dig it out. I’m really wishing we lived in a flatter area.
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6 Responses to “All About Dirt”
Talk to Me, People!
Oh my! I can sort of picture this… the building we live in is on all sorts of levels. Technically we are on the ground floor, and on one side we are on walk-out ground, but leaving by the front door requires going down 4-5 steps to street level, and to the left side of the house, is a below street level garage, and on the rear left is a basement level apartment… that has a walk-out garden too. The levels of the house next door are just as screwy. I am a native flat-lander. Florida tends to be, well, sea level. I don’t think in ‘levels’, not sure I ever will(!) and I find the landscape I live in to be alien… not bad, very interesting at times, simply not what I think of as natural, and I am constantly amazed at uphill/downhill construction!
arrgh! Who hit send? I meant to add… So glad to hear you got your dirt and are working on improvements. I hope the rest shows up soon! (well, after Irving has a good rest-up!)
Heh, it’s that sneaky Ninja of yours, tapping send with a stealthy paw when you glance away.
hee hee! I think you may be right
She got me this morning when I went to wake up Honor for school. Ninja was sitting all peaceful and cute on the end of Honor’s bed, but when I walked past, I got a surprise double-paw karate chop… and then, silently, she was gone! Under the bed!
How have you coped with this? It would have driven me crazy with a capital C! It must a of been a major culture shock when you first moved there. Glad to hear that you are making more progress with the house. Hope you get the dirt you need.BTW I finally made the jump and started my own blog. I just hope I can keep motivated. I’m viewing it as my outlet as you suggested. Thanks!
It was a big culture shock to move here, but then again, I wasn’t dealing with building a house and stuff, so it was nothing like it could have been!
Off to check out your blog.