Plan A?
Most of you, my loyal readers, have, from time to time, heard me refer to the building project in Nosara as Plan B. There are two reasons for this...the first is that at the time that I bought the land in 1999, I was working in NY and it seemed that everyone with which I worked had these backup plans..."if this doesn't work out, I am going to be a DJ...If this doesn't happen for me, I am going to open up a recording studio...I am giving this one more year and then I am going into motocross". I tagged this phenomena Plan B, and even used to start conversations with it..."what is your Plan B?" Everyone knew what I meant and thier Plan B's usually told more about thier dreams and desires than what they were currently doing.
When I bought the land, my plan B became "I am going to just uproot and move to Costa".
The second meaning of the double entrendre comes from a time when I was a judicial clerk in Pensacola Florida, dreaming with a buddy of mine on the phone. He and I, over the course of an evening, decided that the property might very well be valueless, so why not assemble the collective manpower, brain power and creativity of my friends and build a surf shack. A trip to Costa in 2005, with Ian and Jmer, pictured waaaay below on this blog, educated me about the value of the land I owned. I decided then to pursue a building project that would maximize the value of the land, and embody a life long dream to design a serene, airy, modern, green home. That dream is what became K House, but it was plan B for me.
Well, I am contemplating reopening Plan A. No, not a return to NYC, but getting my friends assembled, and leaning on thier support, thier brains, their backs and thier friendship to get to CR and build a one room surf shack on EE-25. This would not stop or even threaten Plan B, but K house is taking much longer than I had planned to come to fruition. I had imagined tht being the case, and now, realistically, I need to assume that from now till completion could be a year or more. I have a break now, between jobs, and more importantly, I have great friends with a desire to go to Costa, and a wicked combination of skills.
Paul and Scott and I are getting together tomorrow. I am going to bake some chicken, chill some beer and clear the dining room table. we are going to see if we cannot design a surf shack. Paul is an architect, Scott, amongst other interesting thins, is a real estate developer who has been following his interests in green building. Me...well, I am some hack who loves design, creative solution making, and surfing costa.
Now, there is no electricity on the place, no running water. Further more, we dont have a building permit, but from what I understand, you dont need one in Costa to Build less than 750 sq feet. the land is graded, and we have a thimble full of actual experience between us, but here we go....
So, the opening thought of mine was to dig down into the grade, lay a concrete foundation, and use cinder block construction. Why cinderblock? Well, that what everyone else in Costa seems to use. I wanted to make a sod roof, and partially bury the thing to decrease its visual footprint. Furthermore, I conjectured, by partially burying it, I could use the lower thermal value of the soil to cool the shack.
Paul, and my dad, questioned that approach. They pointed out that we would need a lot of concrete. A lot of it. more than we could make at the property. We would need a truck. Now, I dont know jack S--- about getting a concrete truck to a site in Nosara. Dont know what it costs, who to call, how long it would take. nothing.
So as it stands, we are thinking 150-200 square feet. Timber construction, pressure treated wood for the frame, and teak paneling for the rood and sides. The front would be glass. A small deck. Then, perhaps, an outdoor shower (Cistern driven) and composting toilet, a single light, a full sized bed, 2 burners for cooking, and some chairs, a small table and a hammock. My Dad is a handy and capable fellow...he is going to serve as our foreman. He has the most grey hair so that makes sense. He has a degree in electrical engineering, so he is going to help us add electrical systems to the plans. Furthermore, we are counting on him, and my step mom, to keep the troops on task and the quality of the work high. I am hoping they dont bring a bullwhip. We need a plumber too to add some pipes into the plans. the hope is to add solar panels one day, and maybe lead water from the house. But until then, we are off the grid. That is not hard, since the grid is nowhere near this place.
How crazy are we?
the list of unknowns:
Where do I need to go to find building supplies? There is a huge place in liberia. I am sure that is sufficient. Can I get them in Nicoya? What about in Nosara? What supplies can I get in each.
How on earth do I get the supplies to the site? A truck. I have to rent one. Can I hire one? Can I hire a big one? One that can move glass?
Can I get teak? Is it expensive?
What is available? Could I get a solid glass door set to just drop in? If so, how do I get it to the site? Man, if I could just hire a truck from Liberia to the site, and drop off all of the materials in one go....
Do I need a permit? I dont think so. No water, no electricity, under 750 sq feet.
Composting toilets...what on earth do I know about them?
Are there recycled materials available? Old tires, old wood...anything?
Is teak and wood construction doomed to rot and destruction?
Look, I am in over my head, but not by much. Anyone out there have any advice, or any warnings? Anything would help. I am kinda just jumping in this. I am keeping it as simple as possible. but I can use anyone's guidance.
With thanks.
By the way, this is the exciting part, the roster looks at least this good:
Me,
Dad
Lynn,
Scott
Paul
Mike
Rebeca
Chris(?)
Ian(?)
Can you imagine how overwhelmed I am by this? this house will be built by love. It sounds hokey, but this is an old fashioned barn raising, with my goodfriends all becoming part of this forever. And dont worry about us...there is going to be lots of hiking and surfing and touring, and surfing, and sunning and surfing and eating and surfing and...well, you get the picture. Its not all work. We have a very relaxed schedule.
Ok, signing off.
Most of you, my loyal readers, have, from time to time, heard me refer to the building project in Nosara as Plan B. There are two reasons for this...the first is that at the time that I bought the land in 1999, I was working in NY and it seemed that everyone with which I worked had these backup plans..."if this doesn't work out, I am going to be a DJ...If this doesn't happen for me, I am going to open up a recording studio...I am giving this one more year and then I am going into motocross". I tagged this phenomena Plan B, and even used to start conversations with it..."what is your Plan B?" Everyone knew what I meant and thier Plan B's usually told more about thier dreams and desires than what they were currently doing.
When I bought the land, my plan B became "I am going to just uproot and move to Costa".
The second meaning of the double entrendre comes from a time when I was a judicial clerk in Pensacola Florida, dreaming with a buddy of mine on the phone. He and I, over the course of an evening, decided that the property might very well be valueless, so why not assemble the collective manpower, brain power and creativity of my friends and build a surf shack. A trip to Costa in 2005, with Ian and Jmer, pictured waaaay below on this blog, educated me about the value of the land I owned. I decided then to pursue a building project that would maximize the value of the land, and embody a life long dream to design a serene, airy, modern, green home. That dream is what became K House, but it was plan B for me.
Well, I am contemplating reopening Plan A. No, not a return to NYC, but getting my friends assembled, and leaning on thier support, thier brains, their backs and thier friendship to get to CR and build a one room surf shack on EE-25. This would not stop or even threaten Plan B, but K house is taking much longer than I had planned to come to fruition. I had imagined tht being the case, and now, realistically, I need to assume that from now till completion could be a year or more. I have a break now, between jobs, and more importantly, I have great friends with a desire to go to Costa, and a wicked combination of skills.
Paul and Scott and I are getting together tomorrow. I am going to bake some chicken, chill some beer and clear the dining room table. we are going to see if we cannot design a surf shack. Paul is an architect, Scott, amongst other interesting thins, is a real estate developer who has been following his interests in green building. Me...well, I am some hack who loves design, creative solution making, and surfing costa.
Now, there is no electricity on the place, no running water. Further more, we dont have a building permit, but from what I understand, you dont need one in Costa to Build less than 750 sq feet. the land is graded, and we have a thimble full of actual experience between us, but here we go....
So, the opening thought of mine was to dig down into the grade, lay a concrete foundation, and use cinder block construction. Why cinderblock? Well, that what everyone else in Costa seems to use. I wanted to make a sod roof, and partially bury the thing to decrease its visual footprint. Furthermore, I conjectured, by partially burying it, I could use the lower thermal value of the soil to cool the shack.
Paul, and my dad, questioned that approach. They pointed out that we would need a lot of concrete. A lot of it. more than we could make at the property. We would need a truck. Now, I dont know jack S--- about getting a concrete truck to a site in Nosara. Dont know what it costs, who to call, how long it would take. nothing.
So as it stands, we are thinking 150-200 square feet. Timber construction, pressure treated wood for the frame, and teak paneling for the rood and sides. The front would be glass. A small deck. Then, perhaps, an outdoor shower (Cistern driven) and composting toilet, a single light, a full sized bed, 2 burners for cooking, and some chairs, a small table and a hammock. My Dad is a handy and capable fellow...he is going to serve as our foreman. He has the most grey hair so that makes sense. He has a degree in electrical engineering, so he is going to help us add electrical systems to the plans. Furthermore, we are counting on him, and my step mom, to keep the troops on task and the quality of the work high. I am hoping they dont bring a bullwhip. We need a plumber too to add some pipes into the plans. the hope is to add solar panels one day, and maybe lead water from the house. But until then, we are off the grid. That is not hard, since the grid is nowhere near this place.
How crazy are we?
the list of unknowns:
Where do I need to go to find building supplies? There is a huge place in liberia. I am sure that is sufficient. Can I get them in Nicoya? What about in Nosara? What supplies can I get in each.
How on earth do I get the supplies to the site? A truck. I have to rent one. Can I hire one? Can I hire a big one? One that can move glass?
Can I get teak? Is it expensive?
What is available? Could I get a solid glass door set to just drop in? If so, how do I get it to the site? Man, if I could just hire a truck from Liberia to the site, and drop off all of the materials in one go....
Do I need a permit? I dont think so. No water, no electricity, under 750 sq feet.
Composting toilets...what on earth do I know about them?
Are there recycled materials available? Old tires, old wood...anything?
Is teak and wood construction doomed to rot and destruction?
Look, I am in over my head, but not by much. Anyone out there have any advice, or any warnings? Anything would help. I am kinda just jumping in this. I am keeping it as simple as possible. but I can use anyone's guidance.
With thanks.
By the way, this is the exciting part, the roster looks at least this good:
Me,
Dad
Lynn,
Scott
Paul
Mike
Rebeca
Chris(?)
Ian(?)
Can you imagine how overwhelmed I am by this? this house will be built by love. It sounds hokey, but this is an old fashioned barn raising, with my goodfriends all becoming part of this forever. And dont worry about us...there is going to be lots of hiking and surfing and touring, and surfing, and sunning and surfing and eating and surfing and...well, you get the picture. Its not all work. We have a very relaxed schedule.
Ok, signing off.
posted by warnerk at
5:22 PM
3 Comments:
You are officially my new hero. If I get the job South America would be one of my territories. This could all be coming together...
I am heartened to see you moving ahead on this property.
Costa Rica has a way of claiming people and inspiring them. I am committed to moving there as well and whether it takes a plan B or C or d, e and F, I am going to do it.
Everything begins with an inspired dream. Even if this plan B of yours falters or doesn't materialize exactly as you envision, I think it has great value if all it ever does is bring you and others and a common dream together for a while.
I am an avid sea kayaker and I know how the feel of riding ocean waves can be a strong influence in one's life. Nature calls, so to speak, and nature in Costa Rica has a strong voice. Buna suerte y Pura Vida!
Muchas Gracias James.
You know Scott and I were just talking about this last night. I am thankful that surfing gives me one natural cycle that i must obey. It cannot be predicted. It seems we are not saftey immune to many of natures cycles. We have lights we can burn through the night, heaters we can run through the winter, bridges to span rivers, umbrellas for the rain...
What I love about Costa is the indeniable call of nature. Good luck with your plan amigo.
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