Forming up main level, moving along at a good pace.

Another two weeks have gone by and we are moving along at a good pace.  About two months ahead of schedule we have begun framing up the main level and began the stonework on the lanai columns.

The picture above and below are taken from the pool patio area.  This is the main level great room which will open to the spacious covered lanai.

These pics are of the framing work being done in the great room and dining area.  These picture don't show it, but the villa great room, dining room and kitchen will all have dual views of Fish Bay and Rendezvous Bay.

The picture below is the front of the house to the left of the front door area.  There are two nice size windows in the kitchen area then as you look left, the window for the powder bath and left again is the window into the laundry room.

The front door is pictured above and will be covered by the wrap around covered lania.  Below we have begun building the stone columns which will have pillars placed on top connecting to the roof.

The picture below shows a good view from below up to the great room.  Below is the lower level window openings from one of the ensuite bathrooms.

There are five french door openings in the great room and dining area, with the great breezes Caribbean Palm Villa will always enjoy comfortable trade winds.

 We excavated the front walkway around a series of rock outcroppings and cactus to allow us to keep some of the existing natural landscape setting. (picture below)  We have decided we will need a stone wall along the brick covered walkway which will add a lot of nice island character since we will be utilizing the island native stone, commonly called Bluebitch.

Over the next few weeks we will finish framing up the walls and roof beams.  Once thats complete then we will have last major concrete pour for the villa.  The roofing material has just arrived so we will then move on to the tongue and groove for the ceilings. 

3 more weeks 3 more concrete pours including the pool!!!!

Its been 3 weeks since our last post.  The progress continues at lightning speed.  Since we posted on May 22nd we have finished the majority of the earthwork including cutting for the sidewalk to the main entrance.  Below is a picture looking up at the villa.  Rather impressive don't you think.

Once we backfilled around the lower level and cut the footings for the remainder of the main level, we decided to step the pace up even more by digging the pool and prepping for the 24 by 30 pool veranda. Since this area is only a 4 inch step down from the veranda it made sense to pour the entire main level as well as the pool veranda at the same time.  This picture above shows all of the rebar used to form to pool floor.

 We poured on a Tuesday and erected the pool walls and poured two days later on Thursday.

Within 2 weeks of pouring the pool we had the entire main floor formed for concrete.  This includes roughing in the remainder of electrical, plumbing and air conditioning.  All of this entails an enormous amount of labor and material to support the concrete floor from below with plywood, 4X4 posts and metal jacks that must be left in place for 3 to 4 weeks after the pour.  

This is a picture of the pool patio.  As we suspected we have the southwesterly view we expected over Rendezvous Bay and Klien Bay.

This is a view from the street above.  You can see the pool in the right hand corner.  To get an idea of the size of this entire slab, it measures 96 feet long by 38 feet wide.  

Because of the size of the pour we hired a pump with a boom to assist in pouring the concrete more efficiently.  This pour totaled 76 yards.  That is 8 completely loaded concrete trucks 9 yards each and one "straggler" at 4 yards.  The pump allows the concrete to be put in place much faster and when pouring such a large slab we do not want any cold joints.  Add to the equation that all of theses trucks are barged over from St Thomas so timing is so critical.  

Awesome picture with the ocean in the background.

Everyone busted their rumps today! 12 guys plus two from the pump truck!

This is the last bit of concrete that was poured as the day came to a close on Monday of this week.  This area in picture is the pool veranda.  It is going to be very nice with plenty of room to relax!

This picture was taken yesterday, Tuesday.  This is the view from the living room looking over the covered veranda.  We have almost 800 sq ft of covered veranda. this is one of the most desirable attributes of this villa.  Being able to sit outside any time rain or shine to enjoy the wonderful trade winds and yet be sheltered from the elements.

This is our Kitchen lol.  We started forming walls yesterday.  Our roof rafters arrive on the 24th of June so looks to be another crazy few weeks.  Hopefully we will be pouring the walls by the end of the first week of july or perhaps the second week.  Later next week we begin the stone work that will serve as the base at the bottom of each of the 12 columns on the veranda.