When we bought this house we never thought to look at the one side of the house that faces an empty lot. When we finally looked, part of one wall of the house and the entire security wall on that side were unfinished.
I talked to our neighbor David about having it finished and painted so he hired a maestro for us to handle the concrete work. It was completed in one day with two maestros and one assistant. The following week David completed the finish work and paint. Ta Da!
Now this section looks so nice it’s time to have the rest of the house painted….
Finding our Paradise in South America 
It looks so much better, but you are probably the only house on that row that is finished on the north side.
Have you heard yet what the owner of that lot plans?
Hey Mary, we were getting snakes in the yard and storage closet now that the wall is smooth and the lot is cleared we have not had any more snakes. We have not heard a thing about the lot. They just chopped everything down and never came back. It is filled with garbage, bags, bottles especially where the lot fronts on the street. It is sad when we have garbage pick up three times a week and folks dump their trash on the roadside instead of one of the trash bins….hard to teach new thinking. Nancy
That looks so nice and fresh….sure you like looking at it now!
Hi Eileen, Because this wall is on the property line we rarely see it but are so happy to have it done. Now we are making our plans to add more height to the walls and get a new gate. First I am waiting to see how Patricia’s aluminum gate looks and we may end up ordering one like hers instead of going with wood. Decisions decisions!!! Nancy
House looks so nice. More pictures please.
Hi Janet, This week I will take some outside photos and post it to the blog. Our small garden area is doing well almost all the trees have given us fruit. This is the first home we have had where we have been able to harvest fruit before we moved…So many lemons (small green the locals call limons not limes) that we give hundreds away each month, guava that I must do the same thing with because I have more marmalade and paste than I can ever use, star fruit (called fruta china), a huge number of very large pomegranates that I have started to make pomegranate syrup with…I need more storage, more canning jars, a bigger freezer and maybe the pressurized canning pot…Hard to find canning jars, last batch I bought I had shipped from the US. It has been a wonderful garden for us. Nancy
It looks beautiful… maybe as you continue to make things look nice people will stop trashing it. At lest you can hope š
Hi Tim, the locals are pretty good about their homes, yards and the streets. But we do have a great deal of visitors from other parts of Ecuador and they don’t have the same consideration for our town as we do. It will take time for the concept of putting trash in a trash bin to take hold. They have now started to post notices on all the buses not to throw garbage out the windows, in the not to distant past the signs said “throw your trash out the windows”. Also, young folks think blank walls are their personal white boards and we find graffiti on many walls around town. Most owners paint over as soon as possible but others leave it. Progress is being made and things will change. But like everything else it will take time. Nancy
Hi Nancy,
Your posting on finishing the northside wall was wonderful, it gave me insight to my own future relocation to EC and what construction practices I might find in real estate.
I did a Goggle search on: foam core concrete building panels. Found that there are many international companies on board using this system. Some manufacturers ship worldwide and do the customs import paperwork for their customer. Perhaps these building panels may already be available in EC – I don’t know. It would be interesting to find out if this method is cost effective for residential use.
Using this type of building system, here is what is needed at the job site:
1. Underground engineering for electrical, plumbing, connector rods for the panels, and a moisture membrane underneath the poured concrete slab.
Go to this link to see what I am posting here. There are many more links and some YouTube slideshows that show the actual delivery and installation of the exterior, interior and roofing panels
http://www.bergandi.com/ecopanel/home_pg.html
Thanks for your continued postings of life in Ecuador, I enjoy reading them.
Patricia in Oregon
Hi Patricia, thanks for following our blog. There are several builders using a system of styrofoam and wire in Ecuador. I have seen several homes in Puerto Cayo that are using a similar system. Local builders (San Clemente) use the standard brick, brick block or concrete block build. Every house that we have heard of using this styrofoam system has stopped construction and is in litigation. Maybe by the time you are ready to move here things will have changed. Right now normal construction practices seem to be block type construction. We have also seen one wonderful small home that was built prefab of solid concrete made in Quito and shipped here on a truck. It was assembled and the folks were moved in within weeks. If I was going to build I would get a prefab instead of making myself crazy about building. Especially because my Spanish is just not good enough and I am 62 years old and have build homes in the past, never again. Nancy
Wow! That’s amazing that they did that so fast! It looks beautiful Nancy!
Hi Joyce and Butch, it really looks nice…very happy to have it done, N