The biggest trick for fabricating this Caribbean Wooden House project was how to re-assemble 3 stand-alone structures and a handful of Gazebos on a privately owned island in the middle of the Bahamas with positively no building infrastructure. No electric, no tools or machinery and no way to actually receive the raw materials. The good news is that there was fresh water on this isolated Island paradise which meant making concrete was not a challenge.
The first task was to build a dock so that we could receive the goods and equipment. Our individual hardwood elements are heavy and as all haulage was being done manually, a secure dock needed to be in place before we could bring in heavy machinery and raw materials. The materials for the dock were sourced from mainland America as the dock needed to be ready to receive the shipments from Indonesia. Besides dock materials made from Ipe Hardwoods, other materials brought in from the states included building tools and machinery, plywood, hurricane clips, white goods, Plumbing, electrical fit outs, mosquito screens and materials for finishing the hardwoods after assembly. Teak Bali helps our clients determine up front what is sourced in Indonesia and what is sourced in the country of destination depending on what is more cost effective.
Once the dock was built it was time to bring over materials and machinery. Two tethered NATO barges were being utilized to ferry materials over from Georgetown where the containers had landed and were being stored. The first toy brought over was a John Deere 310 SJ Backhoe to help clear land and prep the location for the fabrication of the foundation. Stay tuned for our next Blog’s on this project where we discuss the prep work required for fabricating he foundation for these gorgeous Caribbean Wooden Houses. The system for bringing over the Caribbean Wooden structures was a staged process involving quite a few trips from Mainland Exuma to the clients private Cay. To view more Blog articles and information on this Caribbean Wooden House project, please click here: ‘Caribbean Project A’.
