06FEB2007 "Construction in coastal Kenya"

As soon as we arrived in the new house, I knew that Patrick wouldn’t feel homesick at all. Right next door, they are building a new house and Patrick keeps tabs by standing on a stool next to the wall to assess the progress. We call it Jenkins Row Jr, after the massive condos that were going up behind our DC house that Patrick used to watch through the bathroom window. There is not nearly as much heavy machinery (like a single cement mixer versus 2 tower cranes), but it is equally interesting because of the difference in construction techniques (feel free to tune out here or skip to the next post…).

The expat houses, walls, etc., are all built out of blocks cut from coral quarries rather than cinderblocks and the nicest roofs (determined to be nicest because they will never leak, are maintenance free, and are most expensive) are built out of solid concrete! These construction techniques blew my mind, but in many ways make lots of sense due to the availability of materials – I mean, at least they are not solid hardwood, like all of the furniture around this place! Watching them put in the concrete roof was amazing, first off because I could barely believe it, but secondly because of the ant-like process. Labor is cheaper and more available than equipment or materials, so there were ~35 men scrambling all over the place during this roof fabrication. There were several men each measuring and hauling (by hand) buckets of sand, cement, and gravel to the mixer. Once the mix was done, they dumped it on the ground where several men scooped it by shovel into wheelbarrows, only to dump it 15 feet away at the base of the house. At this point, a chain of men would throw the gravel up to the next corrugated metal platform, shovel-full by shovel-full, just like a fish ladder, until the concrete finally defied gravity and got spread out over the interlaced rebar…absolutely crazy…












Apparently it is relatively cheap to build a house here, so people get pretty extravagant. Maybe I can find some ways to make them a little more environmentally friendly while I am here…hhhmmm….