Walls and Infrastructure

Before and after pictures of the west side property line.

I am going to place a sewer pipe along this property line for the northerly neighbor to use. As part of the deal to sell that lot I granted a sewer easement along this property line. The sewage, however, will have to be pumped up to reach this line.

There will be a small retaining wall at the northern property line.

Here it is. There will also be a privacy wall at the end of this wall to screen out the house in the picture.

The garage walls kept rising these last two weeks.

The wall is almost all done. The three car garage will have an 18 foot high ceiling, kind of like a cathedral for cars? The opening on the left side of the wall is where the stairs will reach the house level.

I think I have 54 four-inch can swivel lights. Plus a half dozen outdoor sconces, unchosen hidden soffit lighting in the living room and master bedroom, and a hallway that is a perfect place for a gaudy chandelier that is suppose to balance the starkness of the design and architecture.

Keeping the heating and cooling vents insulated for performance efficiency.

This is the second heater for the upstairs master suite. Also pictured is the venting, fire sprinkler (in orange) and two can lights. There's also a margarita glass for emergencies.The great room with most of the infrastructure in. It looks smaller in pictures.

Meet Linko and Braque

You never know where you are going to find a story in the big city, I guess everyone has one, but this week I ran into a very interesting one. I met them here, on the street, in front of the lot. The black-top hole in the street is their domain. However, before I get to Linko and Braque I should point out the extension of the courtyard/garage wall that was framed and poured this week.



The completed wall is shown here along with the cement blocks that will be used to raise it even higher.

An unscheduled pour. It appears that the neighbor's wall does not have a footing deep enough so we will have to reinforce it on our side.


One of the 16 foot long windows went in this week. There is a view there to Catalina on a clear day. The landscaping is designed to screen out the house to the right and frame the view with trees.
This pop-out design element went in this week. The original design only had one window on this side of the room and the pop-out was to the left. This was done after construction started.


The guy in the hole looking for the sewer pipe is Linko. The tall frail guy is Braque who hands Linko tools and watches the street making sure cars don't fall in. They have strong Eastern European accents we can't tell from where. They've been in the business of digging for sewer lines for decades and smoke constantly. Mateo says Linko smokes cigars all day to block the stench of the sewer. It's a slow, tedious process, Linko is careful not to hit any other pipes in the street.


The pipe was found about 10 feet deep. It took Linko all week to find, over 40 hours, with Braque faithfully standing over.

This just went in today.

Wow -- The Baby Has Taken Shape

The Casa has pretty much taken form. There are a few small exterior elements yet to be framed but the next three pictures are pretty much the shape of the house. I'm starting to realize the difference between drawings and true form. They really are two different things and it is fascinating to watch them merge, or maybe diverge is a better word. There are some minor changes from the plans, the biggest being opening up the second floor balcony, but otherwise it is very close to the drawings. And yet it is different.
My friend Enrique, an architect who I had showed the drawings to a few weeks ago, stopped by and was also impressed by the difference between drawings and true form. Being an architect I would have thought he would have been use to this but the intensity of his gazing at the place spoke volumes. He also verbalized the contrast.
I spent more than three years working on the design for this house, I poked and streched my favorite styles on the site. I commissioned a world famous artist, I worked with architectural designer friends, and eventually came up with the design I now see taking shape. Yet it's still a work in progress.

On paper this window looked enough to fill out the den, but to add another one is going to take a trip to the structural engineer and maybe a major reinforcement of this supporting wall. I think I should do it.
The "Y" sewer connection in the street was dug up this week.

Mystery Beam

Tuesday, August 26, 1pm. As scheduled, the crane, the beam, and I, each arrived separately at the site to watch it get put it place.

It is a solitary beam, lying all by itself, the only steel beam on the second floor. It doesn't even extend from wall to wall. A neighbor drove by, stopped me, and said "I grew up with a family of engineers and for the life of me can't figure out what that beam is all about." The beam is a product of the structural engineer's design but Mateo hadn't asked why. I asked a buddy at Building and Safety who after looking at the plans thinks it's to support the roof overhangs.

The plumbing began to be installed this week.

The upstairs fireplace was installed as well. It is designed to be open between the den and the master bedroom.