Tropic Living = Constant Upkeep

House has faded!

We arrived at our house in Merida about 6 weeks ago. We were here for two weeks in April and before that the December holidays for 2013. When we are not here our property manager was having the grounds taken care of monthly as well as having the house cleaned. Our manager would come to the house at least weekly, open it up and turn fans on for several hours. He would also flush all the toilets, run the faucets and generally inspect everything. Anything major and he would check with us on what we wanted to do/ Thankfully not much anything major came up. 

Now that we are here Carlos and I are taking care of many minor issues that are really adding up. Our pocket book is taking a beating and our list of 'things that need to be done' is getting longer and longer.

The first item that needed our attention was our pump that took the water from our cistern to our tinaco on the roof. Burnt out, had to replace it. (approx US 125.00) We added a check valve to the drain of our pool and next thing we know, the pump for the well (which we use to fill the pool and will also use for irrigation when that is installed) is not working and needs a part...luckily it did not burn out! 

We had never had our roof sealed and decided we needed to have that done before our luck ran out and the rainy season was here. We got Armando and his crew to do it for all of the main house and casita roof for about US 2300.00.

Armando also has a crew that paints and he has given us a bid for painting the outside of the house...front and back but not some of the sides as it can't be seen....5300.00 US...now that includes paint and this is a big house, but thats a lot of money! I think we may be getting another bid as this! 

Windows

Right now we have AnyLou our esteemed women owned business of carpentry is redoing some of the doors and windows that are showing quite a bit of water and wind damaged. (Approx US 1500.00) Today her workers came and took one of our front doors off to take to the shop and replaced it with some fiberboard for the short term. They will do each door and window piece by piece until done. This will take several weeks but will keep our house secure and the cats safe!

Now we are also looking to have some of the inside rooms painted. The old part of the house has walls of mamposterior which hold moisture and the paint has that old look about it....thus it's flaking and in some places pretty bad. No prices on that yet....it may have to wait!