The stone is almost complete and I am overwhelmed by its beauty. It actually looks old, which was completely by design. The stone work on the main house is more refined, and the “larder” looks like they used stones gathered from the site. The masons began their work on this random pattern, and as it turned out, each mason had his own personal version of random. So, the boss had them switch places every thirty minutes, and voila! Truly random, hand stacked stonework.
The rest of the house is designed to look as if it was added on in the early 20th century, so it has painted siding. It has already been painted, so once the stone is complete, the house will appear to be done from the outside.
The windows and doors are installed and primed. The HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems, after multiple walk-throughs and tweaks, are now all installed and ready to enclose with insulation, wall board, millwork and paint.
The roof goes on later this week…
Meanwhile, we are coordinating the digging of a well, as a back-up for the rain water collection system. The well witch, as they are called, walked the area with two pieces of copper wire, each bent in a dog leg shape, to ascertain where to drill. It felt a lot like using a ouiga board. The ancient practice of course is controversial, but I am choosing to believe in it, because if we dig a dry hole, we pay for it anyway. In addition, the price to dig a well is based on how deep they have to go. So the day they drill will be a big day here at Gan Paseo. Stay tuned for the verdict in the next blog!
If things go well financially with, well…the well, then we are going to add a stone rail to the existing concrete bridge, to act as a bucolic focal point for the winding creek view from the house. And build a small stock tank style dipping pool. By next summer we will hopefully have a place to cool off, to endure the inevitable 100+ degree Texas summers.