July 29 to August 3- First Week of our Condo Renovation

Early Monday morning, our contractor Mike Gibbs and several of his guys, arrived to start our kitchen renovation. Not only were we re-doing our kitchen totally but also retiling all our floors including our three balconies plus replacing most of our windows and balcony doors. Whew!

We had been given an estimate of two months for the work and been warned that we would definitely be living in a construction site.

The day before we had emptied our kitchen, placed everything that we thought we may not need in the shower stall of the guest bathroom. We also placed 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 cups… you get the idea plus some cook ware and utensils in an easily accessible cupboard in the guest bedroom. We moved our fridge, microwave, toaster and coffee maker into a corner of the living room and placed tarps over everything else.

In our bedroom which would hopefully be done last, we had placed two of our living room chairs, some coffee tables, a small stereo and our computers- our sole entertainment for the next 2 months.

The boys started each day at 8AM and worked to 5:30PM. A lot was accomplished the first day!

Our kitchen counters were all made of concrete with tile on top plus another layer of concrete underneath the bottom cupboards. Lots of stuff to be smashed out by hand in order to make room for the new.

The cabinet maker that worked with Mike came and we went through my new kitchen layout and related pictures showing what we wanted where. Having been an engineer in my former life my measurements where cabinets, doors and new sink location would go were right on. The lower cabinets would hopefully be complete by the time floors were done.

On Tuesday I went to Guayaquil with Eddie, Mike and one of his managers. My job while Uwe stayed home was to pick the granite for our counter tops, new kitchen sink, faucet and fridge plus check out some back splashes. Such responsibility on my little shoulders!

We went to several huge granite outlets- to say confusion reigned for me would be an understatement. Who knew there were so many choices of black! Next the sink, faucet and fridge. The outlet that we went to had what we wanted for the first two but no white fridges.

On to the Mall de Sol where there were several outlets selling appliances. Mission accomplished with our choice of fridge and then on to Di Centro, an entire mall consisting of outlets selling granite, tiles, backsplashes etc etc. Too many stores, too many choices! Did I ever mention that I am one of the few women I know that hates shopping.

That said, we did end the day successfully with granite for kitchen counters, sink and faucet and refrigerator picked out and bought.

On Wednesday, Uwe and I went to one of the tile stores in La Libertad to make our final selection. We had already agreed on the kitchen ceramics but our initial choice for the rest of our condo was not available. We settled on a really nice and more expensive porcelain tile- oh well, we are only going to do this once. The only thing left was the backsplash behind the kitchen counters and I had a pretty good idea what I wanted now the only problem was to find it. By the way, on the beach we do not use wood floors or rugs- termites & sand- so our entire condo will be tile floors.

Uwe and I had also decided that for our window/ balcony door replacements we wanted PVC instead of aluminum. Living beside the ocean, everything metal eventually rusts even aluminum. But finding a custom window maker who uses PVC was another story. Why that is I have no idea since so many of us gringos are doing major renovations in homes along the ocean shore.  The one person Mike knew was busy doing a large job in Quito and not available. The person who had done our friends’ doors in Puerto Lopez denied doing this kind of work??? We checked the internet for Mike but only found companies in Cuenca and Quito. My FaceBook group Ecuador Coastal came up with a company name, Wintech, and after Mike contacted them, they came up with a professional quote for exactly what we wanted. Another mission accomplished.

So during this first week of much noise and dust, we actually did have some fun times. We cooked at home three of those days, barbecue, salad or left-overs and we also went out several times.

Our Tuesday night dinner at Bella Italia watching the beach at sunset

We also went to our friends, Denise and Javier’s condo, to help her put up some shelves etc. They have a beautiful condo overlooking the ocean on the Malecon. She treated us to a great local lunch after Uwe’s hard work.

The amazing rice and seafood dish I had

Uwe and I also discovered another keeper on the road behind the Malecon. We both had an entire fried corvina ( like sea bass) rice, salad, plantains plus a large beer and one small one for me for a total cost of $13.25.

Here is the restaurant front- clean, nice patio and great food!

 

 

 

So how much was actually accomplished on week 1? Our new door into the kitchen was in, our old door into utility room was closed, wall and new door entrance almost complete, electrical and plumbing conduits run in kitchen and tiles started in kitchen floor. Not bad for one weeks’ work.