Boy Jonna, that is going to be a wonderful space for relaxing and gardening when you get it all done.

with all four above.

Wow the bath tub had fish as well. It must weigh a bit.

yes, with the water it was heavy. It's not a bathtub, it is a heavy plastic cattle trough, about 15' long. I'm going to have to find something to do with it when this is done as they are building me a concrete pond to replace it. I don't have room for 2 and I don't need another fish pond. I keep telling myself that, 3 is enough! I will probably put it on the local flea market page on facebook and see if anyone else wants it. I'll keep the waterfall filter, and once I've got the PH down and cured the concrete I'll move the plants and fish.

I am happy you are posting in-progress photographs for us to see.

Jonna - That is amazing! So interesting the materials they are using to raise the floor of the roof. Your architect really seems to know how to do this project! Just fascinating! I can't wait to see it when it is all done! And a concrete pond to boot! Wow! What a wonderful garden area it will be!!!

Sorry to hear about your molly, Big Mim, passing on. Glad she left you lots of children/grandchildren to keep you company!

As far as the dogs jumping up on the ledge and falling off .... what about a decorative metal fence installed along that ledge? The metal posts could be installed right into the ledge. Talk to the architect as I bet he would have some ideas! A fence that would not block the view, yet have slats close enough together that the dogs couldn't jump through it. Like these:
http://www.bing.com/images/sea...

I do love those decorative metal fences, I don't think they would be allowed though because they are permanent. The other consideration I have to deal with is that I am in an historical district and there are many restrictions on what you can and can not do. The reason I have this huge roof deck is that you are not allowed to build a 2nd story (unless it was part of the original house) that is closer than 9 meters (about 30') from the street. They don't want to be able to see it from the street. So, we set the bedrooms back the required amount and I used the 9 meters in front to garden. If I extend the wall with anything permanent, it would have to be stuccoed stone or block and solid, made to look like it was original. What I am doing instead is having them put pipes into the wall at various places around the perimeter so that I can add trellis or perhaps bamboo extensions.

The agency that regulates all this could (rightfully) rule that the bamboo trellis and even the trees are not in period and must be removed. If they are moveable, more the better as I can move them for awhile and perhaps put them back later. It's possible that they won't notice it, in which case all is well until they do. Mostly it depends on whether someone from the agency happens to be driving around looking up on my block or whether a neighbor calls in a complaint. I can't put my architect in the position of building anything permanent that is clearly against the rules, it would make things more difficult for him and he has to deal with this agency every week. They must sign off on all permits and plans before they are approved and they can have long memories if irritated. So.... long and short of it is that I just might have a short bamboo extension made that will lift in and out of the embedded pipes and also function as a trellis. Of course, I would do this after the architect has completed the job and without his knowledge. It would be cheaper and easier if I didn't have to do that though, so I'm hoping that the dogs will not try and jump onto the top of the wall.

Would something like an invisible fence work? Some dogs don't respond to them, but might be worth thinking about?

That's going to be great when it's finished, Jonna.

Karen

lovemyhouse said:Would something like an invisible fence work? Some dogs don't respond to them, but might be worth thinking about?

This could be a good solution for you, Jonna -- we have about 1000 feet of invisible fence strung around our property (mostly just laid on top of the ground in our woods) for our 2 big collies. I know a lot of people have a bad image of these fences, thinking the dog is getting a terrible shock from it, but in reality they get a warning audible beep before they get into the range where there is any kind of shock, and after a training period (which is really important) that audible tone is pretty much all they need, if even that. And it's entirely feasible to just lay the wire along the top of the wall, or maybe string it just on the inside of the wall. Something to think about, anyway...

An invisible fence sounds like a possible solution. Definitely better than having either (or both) dogs fall off the rooftop!

Or leashes that wouldn't allow them to go to the edge.

I will look around and see if the invisible fence is available here. I thought you meant a live wire type of set up, like a cattle fence. Those are available here but they are generally put up by electricians and they can be set to any strength. You can use them for burglary protection and they have been known to knock burglars off the roof or give a fatal jolt. I don't want anything that dangerous and I'm not positive that I trust that the charge would stay small in our heat and humidity. The humidity mostly seems to corrode all electrical wiring left outside and much that is inside - the whole thing would make me a little nervous.

I won't let the dogs get themselves in danger, they love the roof for their nightly romp and I want it to be safe for them.

If you have any dogs like mine I would NOT use electric fence. the few times mine have hit electricity they have FREAKED out totally and made completely erratic movements. In addition it has completely shut down their minds and they were not able to hear me trying to give them instructions. And that was on land. I cannot imagine what would have happened up in the air!

Oh, ugh, no! Not an electric fence kind of thing!! The "invisible fence" is a wire that gives off a signal to a transmitter (well, I guess actually the wire is the transmitter and the collar is the receiver--or something) that the dog wears on a collar -- which can be adjusted to different "levels of correction." The one we have is "Petsafe." When you install it you put up some markers ("flags") that the dogs also associate with the boundary. Basically it's just a way of teaching them their boundary lines.

OK, now I get it. I've never seen it here. I do see electric strands on top of the walls on really big estates and I don't want that. First I need to see if it is really a problem, I think if I move the trees back from the wall a bit so they don't make it easier it might not be a problem at all.

I don't have any new pictures and in fact, I haven't even been out there to look at it in 2 days. I've had a busy couple of days with other stuff. I'm going up tomorrow morning to see how it is going, they moved the AC today and told us we can turn it on in the office now. That would be a joy as it gets really close in here when we have to keep all the animals locked in with us. Four panting dogs, 3 cats, 2 people and only a fan... it hasn't been that comfy. The outside cats are getting used to finding their hiding spots when the first workers come in and coming back out in the middle of the day and then disappearing in the evening when they are leaving. The workers have been really good about not leaving doors open, to the roof or to the house. Since they have the front door open a lot to move in materials, we wanted to be really sure that none of the outside cats got in and could get to the street.

Good to know they are being careful about the doors.

First off, I have to post this picture of Tope. He is hiding out from the workers (yeah, right) in the furniture we stacked up to make room for supplies on the terrace.



We had crisis number one today, I knew there would be some. It turns out that to level and slope the floor they are going a lot higher at one end of the roof than we expected. Luckily it is the end nearest the house and away from the street. Still, there is a corner there that would be an easy jump to the neighbor's roof. There will be a sink there and I'm considering putting lattice up in that spot. In addition, I think the sink and counter will keep it from being an attractive leap for the dogs. The other problem was the styrofoam mess. Mimi really got on them today about leaving the little floaty bits around at night. It rains, the wind blows and the little bits end up in the ponds and the cats chase them around and could eat them. I don't know, I kind of stayed out of that one but she was really upset about it. In the end, they brought over a vacuum cleaner and told the workers they have to clean up before they leave. I'm kind of amused by that, not sure it will really work but I also can just imagine what they have to say about the gringas that make them vacuum on a construction job.







There are some aesthetic questions about how deep to make the shelves since the wall is not straight. Plus, I had it in my head that they would not be shelves but planters, that needs to be resolved tomorrow.

You can kind of see the wonderful light that happens when the rains are coming in. I had hoped to catch some of the lightning in the clouds but I didn't. Evenings in the summer are really magical because of that light and the almost nightly thunderstorms.

Love Tope's secret hideout!

Rocking right along, there, Jonna.