Merida Colonial Home Purchasing Tips
In the process of putting the final touches on our new home, we were lucky enough to meet a man named Jorge Sosa, whose business is called The Handyman. Jorge, who was raised in California, worked many years for large maquiladoras here in Merida, managing their buildings, building their buildings and dealing with construction issues. He struck out on his own and created this small company, Handyman, to provide a wide range of services to homeowners in Merida.
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While Jorge's service is a bit more expensive than hiring the guy down the street who may or may not know how to put up that wall you've been wanting around your garden, he earns that extra money with a good understanding of how things work around here, an understanding of the tastes of most Americans and Canadians, and a team of capable, clean workers who clean up after themselves. And he guarantees his work, so if something isn't right, he'll come back and fix it. And for those of you still learning Spanish, Jorge speaks perfect English.
We asked Jorge to give us a few tips about what he looks for when evaluating a colonial home in this area, something that he has helped various friends with over the years. Since he has experience fixing everything, we figured he might be a good person to tap for this information. The following are some tips on what to look for when buying a colonial (or any other) home here in the Yucatan.
First Things First: Walls
When inspecting a colonial home that you want to buy, the first thing you'll want to do is review the condition and placement of the walls. You are probably going to find cracks and even plaster falling off the walls. These are nothing to worry about as they can be easily repaired. The most important thing to determine is if the walls are made from cement block or from stone. The stone wall construction is called mamposteria, and walls made this way can be anywhere from one to two and a half feet wide. Of course, we all love the old stone walls, but there are some things to keep in mind when you are assessing them.
Repairing these walls is done all the time, and if the house is more than ten years old, some repair will probably be in order. If there are spots of excessive humidity on the walls, repair will consist of digging out the old plaster around the stones and replacing it with new plaster. This is a messy process (one you don't want to have to live in the midst of...) because it creates a lot of very fine polvo (dust).
Look carefully at where the walls are placed. Cement block walls are easily moved or altered. You want a door there? a window? No problem! But if that wall is made of mamposteria, creating a new door or window in that space may not be so easy... in fact, it may not be possible without tearing down a large section of the wall. These walls were often built without supporting columns or reinforcement, so removing or altering them may compromise another wall or the ceiling. It can be done, but no contractor can give you an honest bid for this type of project, since it is impossible to know what the opening will need in time and materials until the job has been started.
Run your hands along the walls. If a very fine dust comes off on your fingers, that probably means the walls are painted with cal paint. This is basically a form of very thin plaster with color added to it. While this type of paint allows the old stone walls to breathe, it also tends to stain and flake off. You should count on having to repaint every few years, depending on the humidity in your house. If the cal paint is on an outside wall, you will probably have to paint every second year to keep it looking beautiful. There are vinyl paints here, of course (called vinilica), and they can be used on any kind of wall. If you use vinilica on a mamposteria wall, you run the risk of bubbling as the wall releases its humidity over time. Vinilica on a cement block wall will last for a long time, as long as there are no humidity problems.
Another thing to keep in mind is the height of the walls. When assessing how much it is going to cost to paint a room, keep in mind that many of these old colonials have very high ceilings. This fact almost doubles the cost of painting a room because of the increased area of the walls. Painters will also have to set up andamios (scaffolding) in order to paint the walls and ceilings. You haven't lived until you've watched painters setting up scaffolding around your precious furniture, balancing on old boards with full buckets of paint twenty feet in the air! Plan to paint before you move in if at all possible.
Up On The Roof
When you decide to get serious about a house, make an appointment with your realtor to see the roof (if you haven't already). It is important that you go up on the roof and inspect it for yourself. If you are unable to climb, bring a friend who can do this for you and perhaps take photographs for you as well.
All colonial roofs need to be sealed with a very heavy latex sealant called impermeabilizante. (Working Gringos Note: we felt we had really become locals when we could finally pronounce that word!) Unlike with walls, with a roof you do need to worry about cracks. The slightest crack in a roof will mean a leak in your house. If the roof has not been sealed at all, you will need to consider the additional cost of doing this in your estimates. A perfectly sealed roof will look perfectly clean and painted white (there are black and red impermeabilizantes, but they are rarely used). The proper sealing job for a colonial roof requires several coats of sealant and cloth in between to reinforce the layers. If the house appears to have been sealed, get down on your knees and feel the surface. If it feels thick and slightly rubbery, that's a good thing! You also should be able to find traces of the cloth that was applied. If instead it looks like the roof was sealed with paint and you can see fine cracks everywhere, that probably means that the sealant was watered down and/or no material was used.
In this case, you don't know what you are getting into. The thick coat may have been applied just to groom the house for sale, but it could also mean that the house has leaks and the job was done to temporarily plug the leaks. If you go inside the house, look up and you can see water marks or humidity stains on the ceiling, then you can assume that the job was not done well. Yes, this can be fixed, but fixing it right usually means resealing the entire roof.
In Merida, everybody has a friend who has a cousin who seals roofs. Most people believe that sealing a roof is as simple as applying paint. If you ask around, you'll find that the plumber, the painter and even the gardener will do the job if you pay them. In reality, sealing a roof is tricky. Although it isn't rocket science, it does have certain procedures that need to be followed precisely. And it is a very difficult job. Imagine a guy on your roof in the middle of the day in 90-plus degree heat, applying blinding white material to the roof. There is a lot of room for error here, but errors are the one thing you need to avoid. Even professionals can make mistakes, but at least a professional applier will honor a warranty and will repair the mistake.
One last thing while you are on the roof. Look around and see what kind of water storage unit is on the roof. Although the old cement type of tinaco blends in beautifully with an old house, they aren't particularly healthy. These cement water tanks do not seal well and are not hygienic. Replacing this with a plastic, germ-free unit is a must.
Going Down... the Fosa Septica
In the Yucatan, we do not have city sewers like many cities in the world, so we depend on individual septic systems. Please read this very informative Yucatan Living article before you ask any questions so you can understand how they work.
As a buyer, the important thing to know is what kind of system is in place. In a newly renovated home, you probably don't need to worry about this. But in homes that have undergone little or no renovation, there are some things to consider. Many homes downtown were originally part of one single mansion that occupied most of a city block. Over time, these homes were divided and sold as independent houses. If this is the scenario for your house, keep in mind that the house you are buying may share the septic system with one or more houses on the block. So when you are starting to plan for renovation of that house, be sure to count on putting in a new fosa septica that serves just your home.
Plumbing and Electricity
As I've mentioned above, if you are planning to buy a renovated home, none of this applies... probably. When a house has been occupied by a Yucatecan family or closed for many years, these things will almost surely be an issue.
With a renovated home, be sure to ask for the electrical and plumbing plans from the seller, so it will be easier to find pipes or installations. You can't use a stud finder in an all-cement house! If the home is not previously renovated, you will probably be able to see the electrical wire running outside of the cement or stone walls. When these things came to this part of the world, families put in galvanized pipes for plumbing and single hard wire for electrical wiring. All of it was done on the walls, so nothing is hidden. If this is what you see, it may be functional, but it probably won't work well with modern appliances, computers, etc. Most likely, these installations will need to be totally replaced.
Even if the seller says that this sort of work has been done, and some of the installations are already hidden, check the faucets, rooftops and gardens to see if you can see any old and deteriorated galvanized pipe that will need to be replaced. Take a screw driver with you and open an outlet to see if it is a single wire with its installation bristle. If you find this, you can probably count on rewiring the house and having some major plumbing jobs. If instead you find copper pipes or, better yet, PVC or CPVC and flexible multistring wiring, then you probably won't have much work to do.
Last Thoughts
From stories we have heard, the earliest immigrants to Merida from the US and Canada were often unpleasantly surprised by things they needed to do to their homes in order to live in the comfort they were accustomed to. Still, they bought the houses, they renovated them and now they are very happy here. Hopefully, you will take the comments above as tips to improve your buying skills, not as stories to scare you away from buying. There is nothing in a colonial house that cannot be fixed... it's only a matter of money and time. And dust. Now that you have read this article, you won't be caught off guard and will have a better understanding of what you will need to invest in the house you are buying.
Comments
Henry 16 years ago
Jorge:
I have purchased a home on the North coast and had a few questions about issues there.
1. You mention the concrete tinacos are not hygienic. I've got them. Is there a way to safely clean them (bleach, iodiflor, etc) or should I just change them out to rotoplasts? I like the extra weight being right on the shore, but I guess full, they're probably both about the same.
2. I'm looking at having screens made for my windows and doors. Is aluminum screen available or will I be using vinyl?
3. Are there benefits to keeping appliances running? I would normally unplug my refrigerator and prop the doors open when I'm not present. Is this wise in this environment? How about microwaves? Besides the obvious act of putting everything in a garbage bag, is there anything else suggested?
4. Do the magnetic water softeners really work?
5. Is there an easy way to track my fosa septica to check my filtro or the sediment area? My home was probably only used as a summer/holy week cottage, so I'm not sure it's got much capacity, and I'd like to just check.
Thanks for your replies to all our questions. We all love to hear about the practical aspects of life.
Henry
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Tito 16 years ago
Just as in the United States, where most houses used to be painted inside and out with lime based paints, cal is the preferred natural paint to use in Mérida, where all houses used to be painted inside and with lime based paints. Properly aged for a few days, and with alum or low doses of acrylic sealers such as Comex 5:1, or nopal juice, and with the proper pigments, cal paints will last for many years.
Vinyl and oil based are the root of all peeling paint evils in Mérida.
The added benefit is that cal is a natural insecticide.
Cal and alum mixed with natural soap was the preferred roof sealer before in Spain and Mexico, and is now making a comeback. Added benefits include its insulation and fire retardant properties.
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Mary Lou Martin 16 years ago
Thank you Jorge and WG. Your extensive advice is much appreciated. What's your advice re wind turbines, possibly mounted on the roof? A friend here who is a stationary engineer said I should just pay the price for electricity off the grid as it would be too expensive and complicated to install the batteries and everything required. Do you know of anyone doing this? Muchos gracias (that's my limit) once again.
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Jorge "the Handyman" Sosa 16 years ago
Hi Jose,
Steel frame constructions are very common in Merida, but they have only been used for warehouses, factories and such. In general, prefabricated materials for construction are widely available and are becoming more popular amongst Yucatecos. In colonial homes however, once you add modern construction materials or techniques you can take away the charm and warmth. It’s also important to point out that certain sectors of the city are considered historic, and are heavily regulated regarding the materials that can be used to renovate a colonial home.
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Jorge "the Handyman" Sosa 16 years ago
Hola, Laura
It’s nice to know that more people like you who are environmentally conscious are moving to Merida. Unfortunately, not many Yucatecos are aware of the difference they can make in the world with so little effort. I hope that when you move in you will be able to inspire more people to keep our planet green.
BORIC ACID
I definitely agree that it is an effective alternative to use instead of pesticides. However it is important to point out that in large quantities or applied the wrong way can be more damaging to plants than common pesticides.
Boric acid is very effective to control cockroach, termite ants and fleas and many other insects. It is generally considered to be safe to use in household kitchens. It acts as a stomach poison affecting the insects' metabolisms and the dry powder is abrasive to the insects' exoskeleton. Homemade ant bait can be made by dissolving 1 tablespoon of powdered boric acid and 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in into 8 ounces of water. Pour this over cotton balls and place on the path of ants. Replace the liquid when the cotton balls dry out. This will be carried back into the ants' nest, eventually destroying the colony.
Although it is considered a mild acid you still need to take precautions especially near small pets.
Here is the link to its fact sheet for those who are more interested in this product: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/boricgen.pdf
In Merida, this could be purchased in ….Mardupol Calle13-A No.330, Col. Ciudad Industrial Tel. 946-1506
SOLAR WATER HEATERS
There are at least a couple of companies in Merida that I know of that specialize in solar water heaters one of them is: Gruber Solaris – Calle 67 No. 159 x 116-a y 118 frac. Yucalpeten Tel 912-2430.
I have not worked with them so I can’t say anything good or bad about their services. However you might want to try building something yourself, if you are a DIY enthusiast, or have someone build something for you. After Hurricane Isidoro I was working for a factory where many employees had their homes seriously damaged. We turned the locker rooms into improvised showers for them. For hot water, we laid flat on a spiral several meters of black Rubber hose. It worked perfectly well. I’m not suggesting you do this since there are much better designs available on the internet. I’m just pointing out that In Merida, even the simplest design can work well.
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Jorge "the Handyman" Sosa 16 years ago
Hi Mary Lou
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. Working Gringa’s response was very accurate and complete... I hope she doesn’t try to start her own handyman business, because she might put me out of work!
BUGS
There are many reliable products and experts in Merida that will be able to control any plague you might find in your home. So you don’t need to worry about living in a bug-infested house.
Eventually the common household bug will return no matter what chemical you apply, so I recommend milder products used more frequently rather than more toxic insecticides. The reason bugs come back is that, regardless of what you do to control this in your house, more often than not, your neighbors are not doing anything and are accustomed to living with it. Eventually the insecticides will fade out, and all the bugs living in your neighbor’s yards will find their way back to your home.
If this really becomes annoying to you, and you want the fumigation of your house to last longer, try fumigating your neighbor’s house and/or yards. The cost to treat a house is really not that expensive (WG note: we've been charged between $60 and $200 pesos for a visit from the exterminator) Of course, the exterminator will try to sell you some fancy products, but in reality a cheap fumigation process is all you need to get rid of most of all the ordinary pests.
Regarding bugs and wiring. This is not a common problem. I have only seen this in 2 occasions in my life. Both times it was very thin phone lines and only because they went through ant nests. In big cities, it is common that mice will eat through electrical wiring, however in Merida, mice have plenty of food sources so they simply don’t mess around with the wiring. (WG note: We had ants in our computer one year. They didn't actually HARM it, however. We just sprayed it, waited a day, and they were gone. We have also found them in the outlet boxes... evidenced by a growing pile of sand under the box.... but again, they didn't eat anything. They were just making their home there).
AIR CONDITIONERS / HUMIDITY
There are many ways to seal off a room to make it airtight, thus making the air conditioner more effective, and the more effective the air conditioner works, the less energy it uses. So in that sense it’s a good idea to keep a room of a modern house sealed as best as possible. However, in Mexico it is not cost effective to run an air conditioner for long periods of time. Contrary to many countries, here, the more energy you use, the higher the price per kilowatt delivered. In other words, the more power you use, the more expensive it gets. Although not alarmingly so, electricity is more expensive in Mexico than other countries. (WG Note: So people tend to do what they can to conserve it, which is a good thing!)
Another thing to consider is that above I mentioned “a modern houseâ€. I say this because it is hard to find hardware that will blend with a colonial house and be effective in keeping it airtight. For example, sliding aluminum windows are great to seal off a house, but in most people's opinions, they look dreadful in a 200-year old home. An air conditioner not only delivers cold air, but it also extracts the humidity from a room making it more comfortable. But running it for long periods of time, as mentioned, is not cost effective, so the alternative is going completely the other way: Ventilation. The more you ventilate a room, the less problems you will have with humidity, so keeping windows open and even running a ceiling fan all day is more practical and cheaper than sealing the house up and keeping it air conditioned. (WG note: We based our entire new house plan on this theory.)
PIANOS
The greatest threat to a piano is humidity changes. Expansion and contraction greatly affect tuning and extreme changes can even make the wooden parts crack and glue joints come apart. The good news is that in Merida, the changes in humidity are subtle. Although there is high humidity, it is constant and changes slowly within the seasons. My best advice to keep a piano in great shape is to have a humidity control system installed in the piano itself. Rather than trying to control the humidity in the room. These systems are designed to maintain the humidity of the air within the piano at the ideal level of 42%. The components are installed out of sight, inside the case of a vertical piano or under the soundboard of a grand. They are easy to maintain, and can be installed by your piano technician. You will need to do this at home before the piano is sent to Merida, since it will be hard to find the equipment here or someone to install it properly.
CABINET MAKING
You will find many carpenters and artisans in Merida that I’m sure will do a great job. But you need to know this: do not use any pine for cabinet making. While pine can be used in Merida very effectively for furniture, using it for any application that will be in permanent contact with walls is an open invitation for termites.
Termites live underground and travel within the walls, while undergoing renovations in your colonial home; you will surely wake up termite nests that will very rapidly destroy any pine cabinets. The way to go is cedar. Traditionally the species available in the US and Canada of cedar are used to line closets and chests due to their aromatic nature. You will seldom find cabinets made of cedar. In Yucatan it is very common because the termites will not go near it. (WG note: cedro wood here is not the same as cedar in the US and Canada).
It will cost you at least double as much as it will cost to make them in pine, but in general even in cedar, your kitchen cabinets will cost less due to the labor costs that what you would pay for them in your home town. You cannot find pressure-treated or kiln-dried wood very easily in Merida, and the pine available is very low grade. Your choice for wood comes down to Pine, Mahogany and Cedar, and that pretty much wraps it up. Occasionally a lumber yard will carry some imported wood, but so far I haven’t seen anything that I would recommend .
GLASS
You will find in Merida a great variety of glass with an array of color and patterns. Glazed glass is basically use for decoration but will not offer protection against heat or humidity. For this you need glass with UV protection. Which is very easy to find and there are a few colors to choose from. You don’t need to darken your home to protect it; light colored glass with UV protection will allow the sunlight to come through but not the harmful UV Rays.
GAS RANGE
I have to confess that I had no idea what a gas range was until I googled it. I learn something new today. It’s a stove!
Ok, here is my opinion about this. If you are planning to buy an electrical stove in Merida, There are only 2 stores that I know of that sell them. They will probably only have a couple of models and they will cost at least double as much as you would pay for one outside of Mexico.
If you plan to bring one from home, please take in account what I mentioned above about energy costs, but also take into account that you will probably bring a brand that will have no service or parts in Yucatan. In addition, and this is subject for another long post, you will surely find that the majority of houses in Yucatan do not have a ground line, so you will be adding an additional cost just to install it. So you pretty much left with the only choice, which is to go with a gas stove/range.
Regarding gas, Yucatan only has LP gas commercially available, most cities around the world use natural or propane gas, which burn cleaner. In Merida, everybody calls our gas Butane, but in reality it is LP.
Natural, propane, butane and LP are related but totally different products. They burn differently so the burners installed in your stove will also be different depending on what’s available in the area you live in.
If you’re planning to bring furniture from home, make sure your stove or water heater will be able to function with our gas.
Well Mary Lou, I hope this information was helpful to you. Please don’t hesitate to write again if you have any more questions
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Shirley & Jose A Herrera 16 years ago
What about a Steel Framed Pre-fabricated structure??- There are a number of home manufacturing companies here in the states that from about ten to thirty thousands dollars can and will design a two to five bedroom steel frame, ship it to Yucatan and have one of those excellent Maya workers complete the entire structure according to the wishes and desires of the individual. Yucatan architecture etc. - Mexicali, an extremely hot and humid city in the U.S.-Mexico border, has a number of builders who have brought from Japan an insulation "foam-block" that can be easily installed around the steel structure to complete the home. Here in California, for whatever reasons, even though we have thousands of homes destroyed by fire every year, our building code does not yet approve this type of structure !!
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Laura Ferran-Algieri 16 years ago
Being the tropics, I would like to get as much free energy as possible, can I find solar water heaters and other green options there?
Laura Ferran-Algieri
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Laura Ferran-Algieri 16 years ago
About the bugs, Boric Acid (Borax) works, just keep it away from your pets. It is natural and good for the environment, keeping Yucatan's ecology balanced and for the future of our children.
Laura Ferran-Algieri
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Working Gringos 16 years ago
Mary Lou,
There are many modern products to combat bugs here (including Raid), and there are exterminators who can spray both inside and outside of the house. They will help keep the ants, cockroaches, scorpions, spiders, mosquitos, etc. at bay. But that said, bugs are a way of life here. Every year we meet a new bug! You learn to live with them at some level. Of course, no one wants ants eating their electrical wires, but if it happens, you deal with it. It's not that it happens all the time, but it's more likely to happen here than anywhere we know of back in the States or Canada. It's the tropics.
Sure, you can make your house airtight and have it air conditioned...but airtight, as we learned, isn't always wise. The walls of these old colonials need to breathe, and if you don't make allowances for that, they will get humid and wet.
People play pianos here. We're not sure how they deal with it, but a local pianist or piano tuner could tell you, I'm sure.
The most cost effective air conditioner depends on the size of the room. An air conditioning company will send a rep to your house to tell you the best size. Most of us have mini-splits, so they must work the best here. A mini-split has one piece mounted on the wall in the room, and the other piece on the roof. Would the cost of keeping one room shut up and air conditioned 24/7 be prohibitive? We don't know what your budget is....hard to say.
Yes, you can have kitchen cabinets installed... from the most expensive cabinet systems available worldwide, to handmade wooden ones made locally. The cost? No, we can't say, but it can be less than you're used to... or more. Depends on what you have done.
Good carpenters are plentiful here, but sometimes it's hard to get their attention because the best ones are always busy.
Upholsterers are also plentiful and not expensive. I just got a simple couch recovered for about $70 plus the cost of the fabric.
Yes, you can buy double-glazed windows... you'd have to ask Handyman about the sun thing. (He'll answer this too...)
We all use gas ranges, as far as I know. I don't know anyone who uses an electric range. Propane is what everyone uses so it is very available... they deliver it to your door. You either have a stationary tank on the roof that they fill, or you use portable tanks that they bring on a truck.
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Laura Ferran-Algieri 16 years ago
I am planning to move to Merida and would like to hear any answers that come up about housing and anything else that could be of interest to someone like me.
Laura Ferran-Algieri
Love, Peace, Health and Prosperity,
always,
to you, me and everyone.
Putting it out to the universe......................
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