2 week "hiatus"

Well, we have nothing to show- in the form of pictures or work on the house. It would appear, that our illustrious architect went out of town without giving the plans on the next stage of building to the actual builder. Apparently we were not the only project to be put on hold. As luck would have it, the weather has been complete crap lately, so perhaps it is for the best. He should be back this week, and walls should be going up on the first floor starting next week.

Hopefully there will be some progress, and photos at the end of the week, but with Baby #2 arriving midweek, you might just have to wait for an update.

more concrete... evidence (Ha! I kill me)

These photos seemed to disappear from the last posting, so here they are again...hopefully.

Sianna and Jenn check out the progress.

I think we need to clarify that these images are not in order (the concrete was poured before we started to water the roof...duh). But we felt we need to add them for William (hey there William). These are some serious trucks afterall.

Pouring the concrete...how the trucks were able to fit through the streets, we will never know. We are sure it ticked off a few neighbors .

Happy "Home" Owner

Somebody told me that if I water it, it will grow!!!????

Alex has forgotten to mention what he is doing in this picture. The fresh concrete needs to dry slowly to prevent cracking, so it has to be watered several times during the day. This task is the responsibility of the owner--NOT--the construction crew. Does anyone else find this really odd???

Things are Taking Shape

As the scaffolding is systematically removed, you can start to get an idea of the size and shape of the rooms. The scaffolding for the floors will stay for at least a couple of weeks in order to set properly.

Now there's actually a floor to stand on!

However Sianna is not as impressed...

Rebar

It may look like we were trying to recreate Saddam's bunker, but this is supposed to stop things from falling on our head in the event of an earthquake (and we're not talking about "if" we have one... but "when").

You will notice in this photo that there are actually several workers working... a plethora if you will. Off course there is the prerequisite guy hanging around smoking and watching the others. And if you think that he's the foreman you are wrong, that would be the guy in the white shirt, who's actually doing some work!

Something is going on.

Can anyone tell what is going on here? Is there even a plan?

Oh, look, you can see the first layer of concrete on the floor in this shot.

Much has been said, and maybe even more written in the last few years, about Mediterranean style. But what really is it??? It goes much deeper than painting your house white with blue shutters. It's more than adding a Venus De Mylo statue in front of your mural of Santorini. It's in the architectural details my friends! And to help you achieve it we have added some photos above and below. You will notice the stone niche built into the walls. Ahhhh, but did you notice the details that distinguish this niche as Greek, as opposed to some other (dare I say, lesser)Mediterranean niche???!! YES! It's the Styrofoam cup with the frappe (extra sweet and with milk). A drink that exemplifies the "Greek Lover". If you've had one, you know what I'm talking about! ;-)

You mean, they did more work...

It seems as if it has been-forever- since we have seen any progress on the house. And this is just prep work to the upcoming progress that we hope will take place. Basically, what you see here in the photos is the process of making scaffolding, and a mold that goes around the top of the existing walls. The mold is to hold the cement, which will also have rebar for reinforcement. This should make our walls safer for those pesky earthquakes that we get every so often. Of course, the walls have held up thus far, but they never have had a second floor on top of them.

I guess they know what they are doing, but it sure is confusing to me.

We're back....

Hi there, we finally arrived in Crete last night after taking a week long detour to Athens. You know we can't stay away from some good protests, riots, sit ins, and strikes. As you all know, we were in Florida for the 3+ weeks before that.

So, what the heck has gone on with the house since then? Not much actually. They laid the first layer of concrete for the floor, but other then that....zilch. Alex went to check it out this morning, and apparently it was just too boring to even photograph. He will need to meet with the architect this week to make some logistical decisions and then the guy who will reinforce the walls for earthquakes etc... will be able to get going.

Other news, Sianna is doing great, adjusted back to the time just fine. My operation went well, despite the riots and the strikes, and the baby in waiting did just fine too. Alex is exhausted, since I am unable to do as much, for the time being. Kisses and happy holidays from us, we will post again once more happens regarding the house.
Jenn

More Demolition

Before we left for Florida, the rest of the demolition was pretty much finished. Here are 2 of the workers in the main room. You can see the line behind the guy in the blue shirt, which is where the wall had been. The floor is higher behind him, and that will be leveled while we are away.

The main room from the other side .

The rubble that is left from the ceiling demolition of the guest room.

The stairs that were outside the "newer" building.

Also, before we left, Alex had his first experience at IKA...the public offices for paying insurance for the workers. He will write about that sometime when we get a moment at a computer and Sianna is not needing entertaining.

The walls came tumbling down...again!

From the floor of the "old" building, looking up at what is left of the upstairs of the "new" building.

Here are our two hard workers cleaning up the walls of that upstairs room.

Looking out towards the street.

So, as of Saturday, almost the entire upstairs room has been removed. YES, they were working on a Saturday!!!

Hmmmfff...

Ok, where did those pictures go? We will try to fix that, and get the new ones up, but things are very busy over here at the moment, since we are leaving for the US in a few days. Stay tuned....

Progress

One more triangle to go. I bet there is a technical term for that...

Look, we have a dumpster. The crew has been really good about getting rid of scrap and keeping the street clear for our neighbors.

Nice shot of what the house now looks like without the upper floor. Shall we place bets on when the new upper floor will actually make an appearance?

Progress

That lovely arch in the new bathroom.

This is the ground floor room of the "new" building, which will be a guest room. It no longer has a roof! The metal you see is the grid system that was used to help support the old roof.

The view from above.

From the upstairs looking over the "old" building. The triangle that created the pitch of the roof has been removed.

Progress

This is the chimney in what was the kitchen and will be a bathroom.

Small niche in what was the fireplace.

The well that is in that same room.

Looking down that well.

Downstairs bathroom to be...

Check out the rubble spilling out the door of what will be the downstairs bathroom.

Amazingly enough, the arch stayed intact. All the rubble is what was the roof.

See, no more roof, but the rotting wooden beams are still hanging on strong.

The funny little window survived the tear down of the roof too.