We've had several storm systems blow through de islands this past week. But it hasn't stopped the construction process one bit. As you will see from the photo below, the initial excavation is almost complete. They are starting to build forms for concrete footings. They dig down until they hit solid earth/rock and that's where the footings start. Once the concrete 'knee walls' are in place, they back fill around those and move upwards. Hopefully all will be well anchored and stable!
The photo above shows the initial digging at the left. At the right, same location, shows the forms for the knee walls. Rebar will be added too. There are huge piles of earth uphill from the footprint. Most of it will be used to fill-in and grade around the house. Otherwise it has to be trucked away.
Here you are looking to the west, towards Jost Van Dyke island in the British Virgin Islands. I'm standing at about the deck level of the master bedroom. Below me are the beginnings of two cisterns, Each will hold approximately 13,000 gallons (That's a lot of rainwater!). The wheel barrow is sitting on the floor of the lower bedrooms. The tractor is in the middle of the swimming pool. The water level will be about even with the top of the tractor arm. So you can see that the pool will be "out there'. We're putting an underwater bench at the end of the pool so you can sit with your beverage of choice and watch the sailboats glide by!
Directly below the pool will be the parking area. But the cars will be about 18 feet below the pool, so you'll look over them. At some point we may put a flat roof over the cars. Not sure about this yet. The cars may sit to the left, and downhill of the tractor. All this is still under consideration. (No three car garage, Don!) Anyway, now that the trees are removed we have our full view in front of us. Looking directly down you will see the turquoise water of Dreeket's Bay and our private beach.
Get your swimming suit ready! 12 months and counting!
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