Thinking about building a pool, to keep cool? Well now is the time, in 5 or 6 weeks when things really start to heat up, you can cool down in one of our custom pools. The gallery below is just a few of our customers ideas to beat the heat.
No matter, whether you are building a new beach house or renovating a classic colonial in Merida’s Centro district. We can assist to in doing it right. We build in both locations and know the specific techniques required to build properly, in both city and beach. We are happy to work with your architects plans or we can assist you to have your dream home, designed or remodelled from the ground up, by one of Merida’s rising architectural stars, Lizzie Vallencia . Lizzie is a young and vibrant, architect designer, who can capture your ideas and thoughts and make your dreams a functional reality.
It is usually very warm to hot here in the Yucatan and it is also humid, as a result the last thing you want to do, is make it hotter in your house or add more moisture. Since Propane stoves give off water vapour as part of the combustion process, as well as a lot of heat, a better idea is to cook outside if possible..
Click to view slideshow.From my experience, visitors are often more comfortable pitching in to BBQ, rather than taking over in the kitchen, so put them at ease and enjoy what they can bring to your table.
The outdoor kitchen, if combined with a terrace, also makes a great place to socialized and serve dinner in the cool air. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just functional. You can use propane or a charcoal grill and in addition all you need is a prep area and maybe a sink to wash up.
Beach food at its best
There comes a certain point when temperatures rise to an uncomfortable level and you realize you need airconditioning (A/C). Maybe it is only for the bedroom or maybe you want it in living areas. When you start looking at A/c units, seriously consider one of the new inverter technology units. Old style A/c units simply cycle on and off. For example when you set the temperature at 23C, the unit internally has a set of parameters it follows to keep you close to that set point, but the room never stays at a constant 23C. The internal parameters turn the compressor on and it will run at full speed till the desired temperature is met, sensors on the A/c unit sample the temperature and the compressor shuts down when the set point is met. The fan continues to blow air over the cooling coils, but the air slowly starts warming up, since the compressor is not running. The sensors on the A/C unit sampling the temperature allow the air to reach a certain point and the compressor turns on again. This would be like having a car with an on off switch, in place of the gas pedal. You could be close to the desired speed, but never actually maintain it, as you would be either accelerating or slowing done.
Now there is a solution to the problem, Inverter A/C units. Inverter type A/C units have constant run motors. However, unlike the stop start cycling of old style A/C units, inverter units run continuously, but the motor speeds up and slows down as required to maintain a constant room temperature. Just like using the gas pedal to control an accurate speed in your car, goodbye to warm / cold fluctuations in room temperatures. The advantage of the inverter technology is increased efficiency, which means lower CFE bills for a better cooling effect, component life is longer, due to the elimination of constant stop start cycles and it eliminates power surges in the household wiring for the same reasons.
When it comes time to add or buy new units, remember size matters. If you buy too small a unit it will have to run harder and faster (inverter type) to keep the room at the set temperature. If you buy one that is way too big, it will not run at peak efficiency, will use more electricity and perhaps more importantly here, it will not remove all the excess humidity. There are numerous A/C size calculators if you do a quick Google search, so do your homework first.
One last thing, people always think 220 Volt units use less electricity, than 110 volt units. This is simply not true, electrical usage is measured in Kilowatt hours, 1 kilowatt equals 1000 watts, notice there is no mention of voltage. The only advantage of 220V is the size of the wire needed to do the same job is reduced and any potential line loss ( P=V*I and Ploss=I^2*R ) is also reduced, but line loss over household distances is almost nothing.
Have a new colour sceme in mind, but just not sure of what goes with what? I am pretty sure everyone has that same problem, but here is a little help. The samples below, are screen shots of colours that compliment each other, from this great little site. Just follow this link to see WHAT GOES WITH WHAT. It is easy to use and gives you plenty of choices in colour and shades. Have fun.
I paid for a new coffee table the other day, the type that has glass inserts over recessed areas. Since the the one I wanted had to be custom ordered, I had to wait to pick it up. When I did go to get it, it looked fine, but there was no glass for the inserts. The shop owner was asked about this and I was told “oh, glass is not included”. Now common sense to me says it should have been, but common sense also should have told me to ask first. That leads to my advice for this week.
When you are getting quotes or bids, check the details. If you are painting walls, what paint are they using? Is it cheap white paint or is it commercial grade Comex? You won’t see the difference at first, but sure will when it starts peeling off the walls. How about that whole house reno, the concrete looks smooth and well done. But did they just coat over the rebar with new concrete or did they take the time and money to prep it with Sikka Top first (a 3 component epoxy) to make sure the concrete bonds to the rebar. Only time will tell, as it always does, maybe not now, but in a year or so when things start to fall apart.
You need to specify, the quality of all the materials for your project and do periodic inspections to make sure what you are getting, is what you are paying for. The bid for your project should be very specific as to the materials used, it should not just say walls painted white. Did you specifiy that all rebar had to be primed with rust proofing or did you specify galvanized ? How about the electrical, did you specify 12 gauge, white, black, green color coded? Did you ask that all the system be properly grounded, this list goes on and on. It is time consuming to do, but worth it in the end.
A lot of the above can be avoided, by using a contractor that is registered as a Mexican company, as they have certain legal liabilities. It is by no means fool proof , but it is one little detail to remember. Registered Mexican companies have a series on letters after the name, like S. de R.L. de C.V for example. The other thing to do is ask to see other works they have done, that are over a year old and ask the owners of issues. All construction has minor issues, concrete cracking is usually one of them. However, what you really want to know is, did the contractor come back and fix them in a timely fashion, without having to be called a hundred times first.
In my case I should have asked about glass.
It is getting to the time that time of year, when the days are getting pretty hot, but the water in the pool has not kept up. You are hot and need some relief and step into the pool. With every step down, your arms get closer to your body and you stand there debating the final step. We all do it, standing there thinking, wow that water is colder than I thought it would be. But it doesn’t have to be, sure you can buy fancy expensive pool water heaters, but that is just one more thing to go wrong or use energy. There is a way however, to keep the pool considerably warmer and have the added bonus of keeping leaves and other things out of the pool as well. We all know the sun warms our pools. Pools gain heat from the sun, absorbing 75%–85% of the solar energy striking the pool surface. A pool cover will decrease the solar gain contribution to some extent, depending on what type you use. A transparent bubble cover may reduce pool solar energy absorption by 5%–15%. But what you lose in absorption you gain back in lack of evaporation and then some. Sun absorption is also an important consideration when building a pool, where is the sun going to be? Will it be obstructed or at a low angle behind a high wall for example.
Swimming pools lose energy in a variety of ways, but evaporation is the main source of energy loss. Evaporating water requires tremendous amounts of energy. It only takes 1 Btu (British thermal unit) to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree, but each pound of 80ºF water that evaporates takes a 1,048 Btu of heat out of the pool and that is a lot of heat loss. If you are at the beach in the Yucatan you usually have a nice constant breeze. However, every square centimetre of your pool’s surface gives up heat to the wind by evaporation. The stronger the wind, the greater the heat loss. Evaporation alone accounts for 60% of the heat loss from your pool. Another 30% of the loss radiates into the air from the water surface and 10% goes into the ground. So by simply putting on an inexpensive pool cover, you can reduce heat loss by close to 90 percent.
Pool covers are light and easy to handle for your average pool. They keep the pool cleaner, they certainly keep it warmer and they also retain pool chemicals longer. So next time you are up to your knees in your pool thinking this water is freezing, call us to get a pool cover.
For those of you already in the Chuburna / Chelem area, our new Office is 1 house east of the Pemex station, in addition to our construction activities, our office also has a full range of pool supplies, water pumps and other related items such as water softener salt. We are official distributors for RIVAS of Merida. We are just getting organized but we are open for business between 9-1 and 3-6. If you see the open sign (ABIERTO) drop on in to see us.
Lately it seems, we have been getting lots of calls to sort out pool leaks and plumbing issues. While we do not want to turn away work, it poses many problems for us, when we do not know how the installation was done. For some reason, problems most often crop up in tiled pools. Not sure why that would occur, unless it is easier to hide a bad pool build under the layer of tiles. If you are using a contractor that does not have a lot of experience building pools, you had better make sure you are watching carefully. We are just working on a leaking pool where the “contractor” buried the piping for the jets under the cap of the pool, in concrete. That is bad enough in itself, but in this case one or more of the jets were not installed properly and were leaking. It is not easy to find a leak or repair one, when it is under 12 inches of concrete. Not only that but this particular pool appears to have more than one leak, which makes the whole process a slow and methodical check of levels to find leak sources. With tile pools we most often drain the pool completely and let it dry, we look for areas that remain damp much longer than surrounding surfaces. Most often water has become trapped beneath poorly bonded tiles or the tile is covering a crack in the pool surface. Now we fill it again and look for bubbles rising out of the tile joints, indicating that air is being displaced by water penetrating cracks and crevices. The other way we check for leaks, is with a special dye that can show water migrating into the pool surface at areas of cracks or leaks at fittings. Once the leak is located we use various methods to repair the issues. If it is a plumbing leak, that is an easy fix, provided it is not under concrete. If it is a leak in the pool itself, that is a much larger issue and if the pool is tiled, most often we need to remove all the tile to see exactly how the pool was finished and then re finish the pool in a specialty product we use called Pool Master. This prevents future issues being hidden under tile and we can warrantee our job, providing the pool itself is soundly built.
If a pool is constructed properly, the plumbing is done right the first time and the plumbing components made of quality materials, it should last many years without any issues, other than routine maintenance.
I keep seeing various advertisements from competitors, saying they build to North American Standard (NAS). Well I hate to break the news to them, but MEXICO is in North America, as is Belize or New York. So what exactly are they saying, is it that they build to the lowest possible standard or the highest or is it just advertising mumbo jumbo and they never learned simple geography. Why not put it to a simple test. A while back, a fellow came here from North of the Mexican border (NOB) and set up shop as a contractor, he was originally a carpenter (long gone now). He put out ads saying he built everything to North American Standard (what ever that means) and that he had numerous trade certificates for construction. Sounds impressive right? How about we look at house wiring as one example of supposed NAS. In Yucatan Mexico, house wiring is stranded wire not solid, so how can he build to NAS, if he can’t even get the material? Ever notice wiring here is wrapped in tape and marret’s are not used at junctions. Simple reason, wire nuts are meant for solid core wire and if used on stranded wire it is easy to get one of the strands outside of the marret and cause a possible short. But, taping wires is not allowed (NOB) so once again how do they build to NAS? The answer is simple they don’t, after all most houses (NOB) are wood framed construction, not cinder block as used in Mexico. So a contractor may have years of experience building in the USA or Canada, but that really means nothing in the grand scheme of things here. Houses are not made of wood here, nor are the walls made of drywall and insulated. What really needs to be asked is how many block houses have they built on rock foundations and then finished with viga supported roofs. Obviously these supposed contractor’s are simply relying on the Mexican construction crews to get the job done and the only NAS maybe a smooth wall finish and ground wires.
So if you are talking to a contractor and they say they do everything to NORTH AMERICAN STANDARD, remind them Mexico is in North America, as is Belize, so what standard do they mean and more importantly will every detail be to the same standard. Bet it won’t !
The rainy season is almost here, are you prepared? You are probably wondering how you prepare for rain, but you only have to look over your head, if you are reading this in your house. The roofs in most houses here in the Yucatan, are poured concrete over blocks set in Vigas (beams). Concrete has the nasty habit of developing fine cracks and slowly erodes over time when exposed directly to sunlight and other elements. That is why I think it is important to seal the roof. If water does penetrate the roof there is more opportunity for rebar and reinforcing wires to rust and create issues down the road, that could have been avoided. The other benefit is heat reduction. If you paint your roof with a white impermeable coating, it will reflect the suns energy, instead of allowing it to heat your roof over the course of the day. Impermeable coatings come in 2 common colours white and terracotta and according to the price you pay are good for up to 10 years (so they say). Almost all the coatings are water based and usually the first coat is thinned considerably, to allow it to suck into the roof surface. However, the roof has to be clean and free of major defects. Lets face it, how often to you go up on the roof to check it, but it is one of the most important parts of your house and expensive to replace. Therefore, you should inspect it for cracks regularly, repair them and make sure the coating is in good shape. Failure to do that will sooner or later cause damage to the roof and leaks will occur. The point being, NOW is the time to make sure it is good, not when it is pouring rain and you see problems. The roof needs to be dry to put a coating on. In my opinion the average home owner can do this himself, if they want to save money and it is a very good value for the time and money spent.
One of the important things you need to think about, when we build your house or remodel, is personal security. It is sad that we have too, but that is the reality of life. There is always someone who wants your stuff and will do what it takes to get it. The first rule to remember, is that if someone wants it bad enough, THEY WILL GET IT. But most thieves fear being caught, more than the reward of stealing your property, if the risks are large. So we need to keep the thieves out of reach of our valuables.
Sounds easy, but is it? Personally, I am not a big fan of protectores, I find them prison like, but that is just me. I am however, a big fan of large dogs. In a previous life, I investigated hundreds of break-ins if not more. The one common link was none of them had a larger dog. A barking dog is the best defence and the larger and snarlier the better. We have 3 dogs and you would have be very brave or extremely foolish to walk into our yard. I do understand that dogs are not possible for all, but here are some principles, that apply in all cases. We do not have protectores, but we do have a perimeter defence system and a few tricks up our sleeves.
People have a natural concept of personal space. A simple example is an elevator. When you get in an elevator with strangers, I will bet you money that you keep an arms length from them, without thinking about it. Subconsciously anyone with in arms length can literally reach out and touch you, with a knife, fist or…… So over the millennia we have developed a perceived safe zone. The flip side of that is we also stay away from what we perceive as others space. A simple example of that is a grass front yard on a corner. If you live on a corner, people will cut the corner and eventually make a path that others will follow. But research has shown that even a small token fence will make people go the long way around. The question is why, but the answer is simple, our concept of personal space. We do not want to invade others defined space, without a good reason or sometimes with bad intentions.
Personal space is very important when you think about home security. An open front or back yard has no visual boundary to would be thieves. This in itself is a visual signal to them. If they are caught inside this imaginary boundary, they will always have an excuse. “I didn’t know I was in their yard, there was no fence or any other indication.” So you need to define what is yours and what isn’t, this is extremely important. You need to be very clear or make a clear statement, THIS IS MINE, STAY OUT. There are numerous ways to do that, but most commonly it is a fence. If you are using a fence make it one about 5 feet high or higher. A 5 foot fence is not easy to get over and there is no excuse if you are caught inside one, especially a locked one, Mexican law is pretty clear on that point. A 8 foot brick wall is even better, but they are usually reserved for back yards. But once you have the perimeter fence or wall, then what? You need to step back and think how you would get in, if you locked yourself out. Now go out and buy plants with thorns and spikes. Put the plants with thorns (bouganvillas) on the outside and let them grow. Now plant the sharp spiked ones on the inside, (henequin) is perfect. You want the plants at obvious cross over places, remembering a house is most easily attacked at night. You also want the ground under next to the wall to be rough, so that if someone does jump down, they have a good chance of breaking an ankle. But at night thieves hopefully will not see your defences. So if they try to get over your fence or wall, the thorns will get them and if they jump down on the inside, the spiky plants will impale them or they might break something.
If they do get past the fence/wall and the thorny defence, that will be the easy part. Now you need motion lights on all the walls of your house, to illuminate the inside of your property. Intruders need to be lit up and I mean lit up BIG TIME! Thieves are like cockroaches and hate good lights. They also hate the idea that their action may be recorded, so the next layer of your defence should be cameras. Even good fake ones will do the same job, fake or real who know the difference? Just never tell ANYONE if they are fake, NO ONE! I do mean no one. You want everyone that comes into or looks into your yard to think you have a camera system.
Most thieves are lazy by nature and if your house looks like it is going to be hard to get into without being caught, they will most likely move on to easier pickings. But if for some reason they do decide your worth the risk, the last thing you want them to have is shelter from view. I hate front entrances that have a little alcove. That is the perfect spot to stand and pry open a door, as no one can see you unless they are standing right in front of you. A large rear yard wall does the same thing, hides an intruder from view. So the back of your house needs to be an extra hard place to break into. I f you do not have dogs, then all openings need to resistant to being forced or smashed open. Sliding doors and windows need fixtures on the tracks, so they cannot be pried open. Normal doors need to be the metal skinned or thick wood variety and should have 2 locks, with one of the locks being at eye level or higher. If you really want to go all out, aluminum hurricane shutters which lock and pin securely on the inside are hard to break into without making a lot of noise and then you still have to get passed the doors. Even the stupidest of thieves knows the longer they are on someones property, the better the chance they are going to be caught. So if you make it a hard job, they might just pass on it.
Here are a couple of quick and easy tricks, that might cause a thief to move on. Lock your front gate and open it only as you need to. Go and buy a large plastic dog dish and a big dog toy or 2. Fill the dish with water and put it in plain view by your door, with the toy close by. A passing thief will assume you have a big dog somewhere on your property, especially if you put up several “Cuidado con el perro” signs. If you have a table on your front porch get an old paperback novel and lay it on the table like you were just reading it and stepped away for a minute and put a coffee cup next to it. Now the thief has to take the chance you are somewhere close by and could return at any second.
Email us if you have any questions.
In part 1 we discussed basic ways to keep would be thieves away, from access points to your house. I will leave the topic of locks, bars, etc. to your imagination, unless someone emails me for advice. But let’s suppose for a minute, you finally get the chance to use the free coupon for that all-inclusive in Tulum. You board your dogs at a kennel, lock your house up tight and head off, for that week away.
Fast forward a day or 2, when a thief seeing you gone and no dogs about, tries his luck and finally gets in. NOW WHAT?
First of all, there are a couple of things you should do, right after reading this. Go and etch, burn or however, permanently mark all your electronics, including fridge, TV, stove, A/C units, the works. Use your name and some identifying number (SIN, DL,) . What ever will identify the property as yours, with no doubt and make it visible and I mean easily visible. Now take pictures of all your valuables and electronics, good close-ups of jewellery and specialty items including serial numbers if possible. Burn that information to a flash drive and give it to a close friend. You would be surprised how many people forget what they own and when it is time to make a report things get forgotten of value. But if you have pictures it makes things easier. Remember a picture is worth a thousand words.
If you have anything of value in your bedroom drawers, hidden under your socks or undies, MOVE THEM, leave the costume stuff there and they might think they struck it rich. The first thing any thief will do, is pull out the drawers and dump them on your bed. All the hidden goodies will come tumbling out. Right about now most of you are thinking hmmm, that’s where my stuff is and in fact that is where most people keep their valuables, believe it or not. So lets talk about some basics on keeping your valuables safe.
Most thieves know where people hide stuff, it is not rocket science. They probably remember where their parents hid stuff or they did as a kid. The trick here, is to hide it, where they won’t have time to look. Do you have a safe? I love house safes, they by far are the best place NOT to hide anything, other than maybe papers that have no real value or dirty socks. To most thieves a safe is a flashing sign saying, hidden wealth here! I can think of nothing better than a thief taking hours sweating to break open or break it out and take the safe, only to finally open it and just find your bills from Home Depot or dirty socks. Remember the longer they are in your house or in possession of your WELL MARKED stuff, the better the chance of being caught. So I would install a safe that is encased in rebar and concrete and hide it, but not that well. They will be so busy with it, they may not have time to do a real thorough search of your house. The other place not to hide stuff, is in the fridge. Lots of thieves get hungry or thirsty and will scoop your steaks out of the freezer, for a nice BBQ later. It is a big bonus for them, if they see that Tupperware container with your jewellery, at the same time.
So where can you hide stuff? Well for starters if you do not want it to be found and you don’t need access that often, bury it outside in your back yard (yes I am serious) or put it in a bank vault. But most likely you will need access, to money or other valuables in your house. Do not hide them all in one spot just incase the thief is lucky. Break your valuables into smaller groups and put them in zip locks, now look for places that no one looks or get them made, like this one.
Houses have lots of electrical outlets and a couple of false ones behind a couch or under a counter are pretty hard to spot. Not many thieves are going to pop every outlet cover just on the chance one might be fake. Go into your pantry and look for likely spots to put things, I just walked into mine and there was a nice Ortho ant dust can about the size of a pringles can. Find an empty one and wash it out, put your diamond necklace in a zip lock and put it in, cut a thick piece of plastic that fits in the hole tightly, put in some baking soda or fine sand on top and replace the lid. Now just put it back on the shelf. Want to hide a larger amount of really valuable stuff? Double bag it in zip locks suck the air out and put it in a half empty can of water based paint. Lots of people have cans of paint around the house. When you need your stuff, take it out and rinse the bag under water, viola clean zip lock. You could even hollow out the bottom side of a can of spam and just place it on the shelf with the rest of them.
You get the idea, be creative and keep things in small amounts, even if they get lucky, they won’t get everything and hopefully they will be caught in possession of something with your ID information on it, providing they could break in, in the first place.
The owners of this exceptional home have asked us to list it. This house is seriously for sale, the owners have reduced the price substantially from prior listings. Own a stunning tropical oasis, a short stroll from the beach This stunningly built, tropical home, has everything to make you forget all your worries and simply relax in your hammock. The 3 bedrooms are complete with en-suite and connecting terraces, plus an additional 3 bathrooms are strategically placed through out the home. This property features, security gates for your safety, a 9 foot perimeter wall with custom lighting and decorative features, a 4M x 10M pool, a bar area, with water and electricity, and lounging area with its own palapa, to keep you cool on those warm tropical afternoons. Full electrical service complete with 110V and 220V. The home sits on a double lot 24 x 42 metres and is 2 minute stroll to the Gulf of Mexico.
This stunning home comes, complete and move in ready with all the furniture and fittings, just bring a glass of wine and your sunglasses! It is that complete, ready and waiting for you.
If you would like more information about this steal of a deal, just give us a call, for our cell from Canada or the USA add the numbers in brackets (011-52-1) 999 273 0840 or our Canadian number 604-200-4104
“Earlier in April, Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray, the forecasting team from Colorado State University (CSU) released their seasonal Atlantic hurricane outlook for 2013. Based on the current trends and observations from this past winter, Klotzbach and Gray are predicting 2013 could be a very active season with an above average chance for a major hurricane to hit the United States coast or the Caribbean.
This is CSU’s 30th year releasing a hurricane outlook. Their projections have been fairly accurate over the past several years … Seasonal outlooks this early can change, but all of the signs are pointing towards an above average season in the Atlantic for 2013″. (courtesy of Earth Sky news).
No one wants to have a hurricane visit their area, but they are a fact of life in the tropics. Traditionally, the North coast of the Yucatan has generally been a safe place to be. Due to the geography of the area, which tends to see storms follow the Yucatan channel or lose strength as they cross land. However, there have been a few notable exceptions such as Glibert and Isadora, that did huge amounts of damage. The one good thing about hurricanes is you can see them coming for days and have lots of time to activate your plans. You do have a plan don’t you? Here in Mexico, once a storm reaches certain proportions and is predicted to hit this area, on the North Coast of the Yucatan, an evacuation order will be given. Once given, it is mandatory that you leave, it is NOT optional. You need to do your own homework, to find out where the closest evacuation shelters are and make sure you know how to get to them. For people who have pets, the problem becomes much more difficult, as the shelters do not allow pets. If you are a pet owner , you will need an alternate shelter for you and your pets. Now is the time to canvas friends, to see if they will allow you to bring your pets with you, in the event of an emergency. Remember, you may be stuck there for a week or more, under not so nice conditions, so tempers of both you and your pets might get frayed.
When a hurricane strikes it is not just a case of high wind. Hurricanes also bring massive amounts of moisture and humidity levels skyrocket. It could be 35+ degrees and 100% humidity for days on end, with no electricity for fans or A/C. Anything you get wet, will never ever dry, clothes, pills, papers, NOTHING! Plus mold and mildew will run rampant if unchecked. It will not be pleasant, to spend a week or more in a damp environment, exposed to mosquito’s nightly, along with your wet dogs. The only way to keep your sanity is to be absolutely prepared for the worst and make sure you have a way to keep everything as dry as possible. If you have an alternate place to stay inland and you have a generator. Make sure you have extension cords and spare fuel, also fill your cars gas tank and have a syphon hose. A modern car has 45 or so litres of fuel which can power a small generator for 4 or 5 days of reasonable use. So having a syphon hose handy is a good idea.
Below is a list of suggested items to have handy in the event that a hurricane does arrive. But, even if you head to a friends house or shelter and then return home, you will still need to be prepare. You may be with out power for a long period, if transmission lines are down and there is a good chance your beach home and more likely its contents maybe substantially damaged. Remember, no power means , no city water and fuel stations can’t pump gas, stores won’t have cold storage, etc. Like the Boy Scouts say “Be prepared”.
Here are recommendations on what to do before a storm approaches:
– Use hurricane shutters or board up windows and doors with 5/8 inch plywood. Make them now before you need them!
– Bring outside items in if they could be picked up by the wind, place screws in your tinaco lid, as they tend to fly away.
– Turn the refrigerator to its coldest setting in case power goes off. Use a cooler to keep from opening the doors on the freezer or refrigerator.
– Make sure your cisterna and Tinaco are full and you have 5 or more Garafons of water available.
– Make sure your vehicles fuel tanks are full and you have spare fuel for a generator, also have a siphon hose
– Have an evacuation plan.
– Learn the location of the nearest shelter or nearest pet-friendly shelter. This is a big issue for pet owners in the beach areas.
– Store important documents — passports, Social Security cards, birth certificates, deeds — in a watertight container.
– Have a current inventory of household property.
– Leave a note to say where you are going.
– Contact relatives and let then know you maybe out of touch for a week or more.
– Unplug small appliances and electronics before you leave.
– If possible, turn off the electricity, gas and water for your residence.
Here is a list of handy supplies:
– A seven-day supply of water, a minimum of one gallon per person per day.
– Three days of food, with suggested items including: canned meats, canned or dried fruits, canned vegetables, canned juice, peanut butter, jelly, salt-free crackers, energy/protein bars, trail mix/nuts, dry cereal, cookies or other comfort food.
– A can opener and eating utensils
– Flashlight(s) and candles.
– A battery-powered radio.
– Extra batteries.
– A first aid kit, including latex gloves; sterile dressings; soap/cleaning agent; antibiotic ointment; burn ointment; adhesive bandages in small, medium and large sizes; eye wash; a thermometer; aspirin/pain reliever; anti-diarrhea tablets; antacids; laxatives; small scissors; tweezers; petroleum jelly.
– A seven-day supply of personal medications, in waterproof containers.
– A multipurpose tool, with pliers and a screwdriver.
– Cell phones and chargers, laptops are handy if the Wifi in Merida’s parks is still up and running.
– Contact information for the family.
– A hammock setup, for each person, as a bed is almost useless in high humidity and will never dry.
– Extra cash.
– Mosquito netting or mosquito coils
– A map of the area, as familiar routes my be closed due to downed trees or other debris.
– Pet supplies.
– Wet wipes, showers may not be an option.
– Insect repellent.
– Rain gear.
– Duct tape.
– An extra set of house keys.
– An extra set of car keys.
– Household bleach.
– Toilet paper in zip lock bags or the handy single wrapped Costco rolls.
– Paper cups, plates and paper towels.
– DRY, Charcoal and matches, if you have a portable grill. But only use it outside.
When you get your monthly bill from CFE, do you go into mild shock and think I can’t have possibly used that much power? Well, every modern electrical device in your house, comes with a price attached. TV’s, Sat systems, laptop computers, microwaves, for example all use power even when they are not turned on. They don’t use much power, but if you have a couple of laptops, a couple of smart phones, 2 TV’s, Radio clocks in bedrooms, it can all add up and add to the CFE bill. However, the biggest user of all outside of A/C units, is the good old fridge. A modern fridge is nothing more than an an electrically powered compressor and evaporator unit, on a temperature switch. The problem is, they are front opening and have very little insulation. Every time you open the fridge door, the cold air pours out like water and is replaced by warm air. Now the fridge has to turn on again to cool it down. Believe it or not almost all modern fridges, also have a heating circuit on a timer. This heater is the frost free feature of your fridge. So not only is it sucking electricity to cool, it is also burning it up on the heater phase. Not much you can do about it, other than to ensure you have a modern energy efficient model and try and moderate the opening and closing of the doors.
But that is not what I was planning on discussing. What I want to discuss is electrical leakage. Electrical leakage can be a small but constant drain of electricity from the system. A good analogy is a small drip from a faucet, doesn’t seem like a lot, but over time it sure adds up. Electrical leakage in Mexican homes can come from a variety of sources. Chaffed wires are a good source of leakage, not enough to trip a breaker, but they could be the equivalent of a 50 watt bulb burning 24/7. Since you are billed by Kilowatt hours used, a little math will show you are losing 1.2 Kilowatts a day or 438 kilowatts a year. Now if you happen to be a high consumer to start with and are in the excedente category. That 438 Kw will cost you roughly 1200 pesos more a year.
There are numerous sources of electrical leaks. Ants are good one, they just love electrical wires. The wires are the perfect ant super highway, taking them to every room in your house. Ever found ants and stood there thinking, “where the hell did they come from?” Well check around wall sockets. The other problem with ants is for some reason they like to chew wire coatings. It is good insurance to pop the socket covers off and spray ant killer inside or sprinkle in ant powder as preventative medicine. I have already discussed chaffed wires which can be another issue, as can the electrical tape coming off wires in junction boxes, especially ones on the roof for A/C. Rain supplies a nice path for a small leak to find ground and up your usage.
Ok, how do you test for leakage? The easy way is to turn off the main breaker to the house and all the other breakers and unplug everything and turn all lights and any other consumer off ( this is really important). Now go check your meter, if it is spinning even slightly you have an issue and more importantly the problem is not in your actual house circuits but between the meter and your main breaker. If you see no movement, switch on the main house breaker and again check for movement. Now turn on the individual circuits, one at a time and watch the meter. If you find one particular breaker causes the meter to spin, double check that nothing is drawing power on that circuit, like a tinaco sensor that is not plugged in, but hard wired. If you confirm nothing should be using power, you have located an electrical leak on that circuit. Now check inside all the plug boxes and switch boxes on that circuit to see if there are any signs of chaffing or other issues. If you can find the issue and fix it yourself, great. If not, maybe it is time to call an expert and see where the real issue is, before it gets worse or causes a wire fire,
This cute 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home is as neat and tidy as they come. The elderly owner has had all routine maintenance done on a regular basis and her pride in the home shows. As far as we can tell this home needs absolutely nothing and comes move in ready and completely furnished. This home would be the perfect retirement home for a couple or the perfect vacation get away. All closets and cupboards are custom polymer units, requiring no maintenance. So no bugs or peeling paint. The yard features covered parking for 2 vehicles and uncovered for 2 more. the front yard features a spotless dipping pool and shaded areas. The inside of this little charmer is built around an open concept, with separate dining area and large living area. This house is tastefully decorated and is spotless, ready to move in condition. ASKING 99,000 USD
This lot will absolutely be gone soon. This is a double lot for half the price, the owner needs the money, so the land must go!
We have been approached by some Mexican folks who would like to sell some properties. The first one is deeded land 1 block from the Burger King mansion (palapa roofed) in Chicxulub. It is 20M by 30M with frontage on an entrada mid block. 2 blocks from ocean. It would be an ideal building location. The owners want 320,000 pesos or $26,000 USD. If you are looking to build, we could have you in a beautiful home, with custom features to your specifications, complete with stunning pool for well under $100,000 USD total, turn key complete.
For those of you who have thought of buying and renovating an old Colonial in Merida, but are worried about the cost of replacing damaged pasta tile. You shouldn’t let that stop you. Replacing missing or broken tiles, is not that hard nor is redoing an entire area. We are in the middle of redoing our own place in Merida and are at the point in time, where we have to look at flooring. Since our place is in Centro and it had Pasta tie in the majority of places, it seemed only natural to replace the broken or missing ones and keep the other rooms in period style as well. I was worried that the cost would be completely out of range, but surprisingly that is not the case. In fact Pasta tile is quite reasonable, considering it is custom made. The folks at Mosaicos Penninsular in Merida have a very good selection of the old Pasta tile patterns and can make them to order. Tiles and zocalos (wall trim) prices vary according to the complexity of the patterns, but are around 8.50 pesos a tile to 30.00 pesos a tile. So as an example, the tile to fit our 4.5M by 5M bedroom and 1.5M by 4M bathroom plus all the zocalos, came in around 7,000 pesos. Of course it has to be installed and polished in place afterwards, but for a stunning recreation of an antique floor, the price is pretty cheap, even when compared to normal floor tiles. So don’t let the cost of flooring scare you off, when you look at old colonials.
For those of you that live at the beach, this is more important than in Merida, but not quite as much as you think. Rust is occurring anytime there is an interaction; between iron, oxygen and moisture and in the tropics all abound and rust is an issue. Throw in a dash of salt and rust occurs more rapidly due to the electrochemical action. Why is this important, well the answer is simple, in most cases you will not notice the rust until the damage is already done. As an example, if you have a small rock hit your car and you do nothing about it, rust will form on the surface and most likely you will notice the reddish mark. If you have it sanded, sealed and painted it should be good. But what if that small chip is on the other side of the fender? Sooner or later when you see a little bubble on the paint and you scratch it, you most likely will be shocked, as a hole appears. The same problem occurs with rebar in structures, if it is not treated. Slowly and undetected is will start to corrode, until you start to see telltale signs, like cracks in your concrete that are swollen apart or reddish water streaks. But by then, it is already too late. Most major structural damage doesn’t show up until it is too late. Take for example a loza roof (cement, small stones and rebar) which is very common in Merida, as it was the type of roof used a hundred years ago. Structurally it needs the rebar to give it the required strength. If the rebar rusts and is corroded away, what do you think happens to the strength? Yup, you have fragile material, that weighs a lot, over your head with no structural strength or rigidity and when loza roofs fall they usually do so after a heavy rain. But those are big examples of rust issues. How many of you folks have sliding patio doors? Ever had them get really stiff and hard to move? Most times it is because the cheap roller pins have rusted out. You can’t stop rust without a lot of hassle, so your best bet is to try and stop it before it starts. If you are building new, make sure all your rebar and and other structural iron is coated with rust preventatives or better yet galvanized. Spray light oils or grease other exposed metals to prevent oxygen and water from making contact with iron parts. If you have used concrete nails to hang pictures, coat them with paint, unless you want to see rust streaks on your wall. When ever possible use galvanized products to help slow rust, it is not a permanent problem solver, but sure helps in the short term. Most important of all if you see something in your home that you thinks is a rust stain, get it checked out ASAP. Better a fix today, than a total teardown a month from now, simply because you waited to long.
