Cueva Marjeric

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Starting to crack on with the electrics. A cave has no cavity walls, and rarely can you get behind of where you want to run cables, so its a case of chasing out the stone and sinking in a flexible conduit. Conduit is easily available either 20mm or 25mm diameter, but my belief is that you might as well just use 25mm which is that much easier to pull an amount of cable through. So what we do is work out where you want to run your cables. If you mark on the walls with a pencil, where your switches and sockets will be first, you can get an idea of the routes to follow. Use your weapon of choice, mine being a 25mm guage in an electric breaker and get busy! this is a messy job and will look pants until its all replastered. If you have an electrician do any rewiring for you, they may ask for you or a builder to do the chasing.

When your happy that youve got some nice tidy channels, put in a few blobs of yeso rapido and push your conduit into it as you feed it along the length. Break out recesses as and where your junction boxes will need to go.

Make sure that all your conduit is below the surface height of the wall and your juncion boxes will sit flush when pushed into a blob of Yeso rapido. Leave for a while, probably only an hour for everything to set and you can start to pull you cables through.

Make sure that you take photo’s of all you cnduit routes, as you will need to look back at later dates, for instance if you want to hang pictures!

You can see the home made light fitting to the right of the picture, which is in the corner to the left of the fireplace. A length of conduit runs down to the alcove which has a glass base and a light fitting underneath. The feed runs in from the left. Ringmains aren’t used.

In this pic which is the centre of the lounge, you can see a run of conduit along the bottom for the sockets, and a run to this from the top which is where there will be a juction box. The run allong the top will go to a juction box on the right, through the wall into the bedroom.

You can see the conduit running down the right side of this alcove and sneaking in under the glass shelf where there will be a light fitting. A juvcion box is at the top where this feed is taken off.

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Bit of an update, weve carried out some improvements, not as much as we would have liked, due to enjoying the area, the people and the wine (not necessarily in that order) However we travelled over with our friends Anne and Chris at the end of January, leaving behind the cold damp gloom of Bristol airport. Now, Anne and Chris are hardened drinkers, having tried every red wine known to man and vagrant, so their opinion on our cave was pointless, but their opinion on the drink and tappas was second to none. Have a look at our ‘Tapas or No Tapas’ for details. While your there, please let us know your Tapas recommendations (or not) on our forum. We will add you thoughts to this Website.

Anyway about my fire place….. im quite chuffed with the result of this, Remember the original picture of this major feat of french architecture? well I rearranged it with my 14lb sledgehammer. It had been lovingly crafted by a previous owner using high quality bits of old scrap copper pipe, twigs, cardboard, yeso, abit more yeso, and then more yeso to finish. Also a bit of an odd design, it just had to go.

I ripped out all the bricks from the ‘platform’ and the rear. (Carole, Anne and Chris started bottle No 1) My intention was to expose some of the natural rock which when painted white would give a nice contrast to the log burner. The rock behind was solid, but as I was hacking out, I was concerned that although the mantlepiece was tied into the wall, it had nothing underneath it to take any of the load. A brick pier was built either side and and then blended in with yeso,(bottle No 2 was opened) I also added a lintel to the rear, so it should all be rock solid for years to come.

I experimented with the yeso during this project (only for building purposes, other fantasy ideas will come later) I originally floated the mix onto the walls, as you would with finishing plaster, and it looked pants, it looked out of place, it needed to be more rustic! (bottle No’s 3 and 4 where now history and No 5 was seeing some serious action) I mixed up a sloppy mix of the ‘white magic’, about the consistancy of Caroles best gravy, but without the lumps. Painting it on with a large brush seemed to give the right effect. To blend in the small alcove to the left of the fireplace I simply painted on a few coats, left to go off for a couple of minutes, then with wet hands and a sponge I just played around until I was happy with the effect. ( bottle No 5 had now been interupted by Carole misplacing her footing and throwing a bowl of water across the kitchen, luckily the perfectly level tiled floor could be mopped up with ease!)

I bought some tiles from the building supplies in Galera (cheap as a cheap thing), and cut the outer edges with an angle grinder with diamond blade, laid on a bed of mortar, these made up the new hearth. Once this had dried, some small bricks were laid around the edge and then blended in with yeso. As the tiles and bricks were laid on top of the existing floor tiles, a coat of PVA bonding agent was painted on first. Once everything had dried out the yeso was painted with a watered down mix of white emulsion so that it would be absorbed, followed later by a couple more coats.

Our log burner was put into place, loaded with wood which was kindly supplied by our neighbour Jim (I think he feels sorry for us) and that night we fired the beast up. Temperature outside -6 degrees, inside……scorchio! Absolute heaven, we all sat in front of the fire, cooked baked spuds and chestnuts on the top of the burner and played I Spy. Oh yes we did……..I spy with my little eye, something begining with F…………………..

Thanks to Antonio in Castillejar, we now have a collection of doors and windows to fit.They are all expertly built and ready to fit. The doors even included all the furniture and the windows also included the glass cut to size by Antonio himself. I must say the it was all supplied on time as promissed (yeah I know, not always the case in spain). and the cost was very reasonable.

At last, gone is the skanky gate, and replaced by a 6ft high gate complete with peepy hole. Held in place by several frame anchors and some super strong grip fill. I cant wait to be able to open the hatch and shout “get orf my land!” Preferably to some ’women bothering, slippery ugly bloke’ Maybe I could even poke a long smelly stick out of it……….Now, how do I get the lid of that Pozo Negro thing?

I ripped my back door out, or maybe I should say kitchen door, and replaced with this stable door. Ideal for keeping smelly animals out and small people in. A bit of yeso around the outside of the frame to make good, but didn’t have time to allow to dry before painting. Held in by more frame anchors, gripfill and of course that yeso (sticks like U know what, to an army blanket, or so ive been told)

Just got to get around to fitting the courtyard door, outdoor shower window, the small courtyard window and the huge double doors to the end room. (must do less wine sampling and more working)

‘House sign’ made by the pottery in Galera.

We had decided to rename the cave ‘Cueva Marjeric’, pronounced: Cwayva Marheric. A combination of Marjorie and Eric, my parents, who have made this possible. I am sure that they would loved to have visited and stayed there, they were a peace loving couple, and would have loved to sit out looking at the veiw, escaping from the hustle and bustle.

Years ago, when I was still at primary school, my farther jumped in the car and drove from our home in the midlands down to Devon. There, he found a new job, a new home and a new life for us all. My parents wanted a better quality of life for all of us.

I guess we are doing the same, hopefully our son and daughter will benefit from our ‘efforts’ in the future.

Sadly my parents have both passed away before we bought the cave, but maybe they are looking down, probably saying “what on earth is he up to now?”

Previously named Cueva Papi, the cave had been empty for some two or three years, but even so it was still in very good condition, nothing that a bit of decorating wouldn’t sort out.

A retaining wall has been built with concrete, and will need finishing.

The weeds have taken control of the front, and that green gate has got to go!

A panorama shot from the top of the cave.

An early ‘veiwing’ trip prior to buying. Left to right Pauline and Paul (we’re only here for the sun) and Carole. Notice the out of control garden!

The lounge has got a lot of potential, although not huge, it is quite a long room with a large fireplace at one end and a central heating radiator (very rare for a cave) at the other. The electrics are to a ‘Spanish’ standard, as in they work, but would send a  UK safety inspector into freak out mode! A bit of adjustment to the blockwork around the fireplace will be made with a 14lb sledge hammer.

The end bedroom has an en-suite shower (very lar-de-dar) and is rather funky, sort of a space capsule, ideal if your into science fiction movies or Star Trek (beam me up Scotty) Just keep your hands away from the light, or you might find youve been beamed up with your loofer ’smokin’.

The bathroom is all functional, and tiled in the traditional ……..erm………. Andalucian style………….. . It does however have a very large open fire, with (of course, yes youve guessed it……….a very massive bread oven behind). Can you imagine that, laying in the bath, a knock on the door, and a stunning young lady asking if you would mind her ‘getting her buns out’………………….