Labour day weekend was a treat. Casa Madera was visited by friends from Lacombe, Alberta to celebrate their 24th anniversary. It was a great weekend and too short a visit. We are happy they enjoyed their tour of "our Mexico".
It's during these visits that our memories go back to what this house looked like when we bought it and how far we have come in less than 2 years. The house was a mess. Plants were overgrown everywhere. The woodwork was termite infested, the fixtures were old and everything was in general disrepair. All this with two people who were office workers and one who spent virtually every waking summer moment on the golf course.....
December 2009 - We have been in the house for about 10 days. Still feeling our way around and trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. We were working on tearing out the kitchen and rotten woodwork in the back room. It was a long process as screws had to come out to get things apart. Most had been in place for 20 years in a humid environment which made them just a tad rusty.
It was frustrating. We thought that we finally had the last screw or nail and then when the unit still would not move we would find 6 more. It seemed to take us forever just get the counter and the kitchen cabinets out let alone the rotten pine wall unit. If we were having this much difficulty in the first room how hard were the next two going to be?
[caption id="attachment_388" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kitchen and Wall unit in Room number 1"]
[/caption]We were up to our necks in rotten wood when our friend Bill came by to see how we were doing. He had a man working at his house building a pizza oven and patio area and he was just about done so he thought maybe we would be interested in having him come to work for us. He could do tile, concrete and other general construction work. He would come for 2500 pesos a week and lunch everyday.
Heather and I thought this over for at least a nanosecond and said sure. Oswaldo would start on Thursday as he had one more day at Bill's.
Thursday came and Oswaldo showed up at the appointed hour. We went through the house and showed him what was going on and what we wanted to do. The first order of business for him was to repair our outside wall where there was giant hole as neither Heather or I had ever mixed concrete in our lives.
[caption id="attachment_389" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hole in the wall"]
[/caption]Oswaldo looked at the hole, did some calculations and said we needed to get materials so off to the store we went. He ordered what he needed and said they would deliver it in a couple of hours.
Back at the house Oswaldo asked whether we would like him to work on the tear out. Sure I said. He asked a very important question, "are you keeping anything"? No. In the space of the next 30 minutes he had the wall unit that Heather and I worked so patiently on for two days in a pile outside of the house. Who cares about screws, just rip the thing out I can deal with the screws later.
[caption id="attachment_391" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Room number 2 after the removal of it's wall unit"]
[/caption]From there he was into the bathroom ripping out the sink, the vanity, the toilet, and the shower doors. He was done it all by the time the materials for the wall showed up.
[caption id="attachment_392" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After the demolition of the shower in room number 1"]
[/caption]It was at that point when Heather and I realized how far in over our heads we were and boy did we feel like idiots.
With the materials there Oswaldo started on the wall. He could only do a little at a time as the mortar had to set before more weight could be added on top of it so he started on the second bedroom. He completed the tear out in that room while working on the wall and moved into the third bedroom.
By the time the wall was complete and stuccoed he had completed the tear out in all three rooms. Two and a half days. Heather and I spent 2 days in room number 1 and were not done when he joined us!
[caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="2 Days of Oswaldo, hole fixed and just needs paint"]
[/caption]Monday morning came and Oswaldo was wondering what we wanted him to do today. We decided to start on the kitchen in the first bedroom. Heather and I had made up our minds that the kitchens would be Mexican without a stick of wood in sight so concrete had to be mixed, forms had to made and we needed to show him where everything would go.
It was a demanding task keeping up with him. While a great worker, he was not a great planner so there were many times when he came upstairs and said I need this or that before I can go on. This meant I spent a lot time going to the store to get more supplies.
It got to the point where I was always greeted by name at El Guero (our local hardware store). If Heather was with me, I am not sure they really noticed. They were only interested in the guy who kept buying tile, glue, grout, toilets, faucets, shower heads, and anything else they had on what seemed like a daily basis for a while. Every person who worked there would break away from what they were doing to say hi, how are you Kevin? I have to admit, I liked it!
[caption id="attachment_393" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The New Shower in room number 1"]
[/caption]Oswaldo did great work. He built all of our kitchens in our guest rooms, rebuilt all of the bathrooms and did a spectacular job. I thought they looked great then and I still do.
[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The finished kitchen in room number 1 and the bathroom sink, all Oswaldo's handiwork"]
[/caption]He was a god send to us. He had his quirks and at times he drove us absolutely nuts but his work ethic and the quality of his work was great.
We look back it now and realize that without him we would have been screwed. We had no idea of what we were getting into or how to fix it and were ripe for the picking. Thanks to him we were not picked. He handled our problems, sometimes well, sometimes not so much but we learned from it.
After 5 months Heather and I realized that it was time for us to start doing things for ourselves and taking ownership of our house. We owe Oswaldo a ton and I hate to think of where we would be if he had not come into our lives. Thank you.
[caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Oswaldo standing beside his first finished kitchen in room number 1"]
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