November was wet

November was wet; we lost a few working days due to bad weather.  Heavy rain damaged the temporary road we had made to allow our neighbor to pass below the worksite, so we ordered a second load of gravel, heavier stone this time.

The exterior cantina walls got wrapped in waterproof material before being buried underground.  Waterproofing was applied also to the ground floor walls on the north side, along the road, which the builders re-opened on 18 November.

Additional scaffolding went up inches from the south-facing front wall; joined to the scaffold on the east side, this allowed the men to work on the first floor.  Temperatures were getting cold for concrete work, still they managed to pour the kitchen ceiling, a slab running north-to-south on the east side of the house. We thought it resembled a parking structure but kept that observation to ourselves.

On the west side, wooden framing for the new stairway rose in a forest of iron posts, which supported the framework of a first-floor landing.  Sometimes I had to stand and study the works to understand how they fit together.  The transformations were almost miraculous to consider, once I got the picture.

Indoors on the first floor, the builders lifted floor tiles from the old sala di soggiorno (sitting room), exposing the ceiling vaults of the room below.  I wanted to see the vaults from above, get a few photos, but entry was strictly forbidden as only a ladder gave access on the west side.  I waited until the men had gone for lunch, climbed up, entered, and stepped very carefully around the perimeter of the room.  The brick vaults were extraordinary to me, perfect and rational and amazing to find in such a modest building.