Qualifying: During a building trip, it is possible to sign up several families for future Shelters. When the cement mixer fires up and the sound of saws cutting wood echoes through the neighborhood, people living in simple shacks seek us out and request to be put on the "list”.

In general, we take shelter building in the order they were requested. However, by the time we get to the next family, they must still have a need for the shelter, own the lot on which they want the shelter built or have a current purchase contract with the government to buy the lot and they must present a deed that lists the mother and one of the children as owners. Since the children can not sign a sales contract in Mexico until they are 18 years old, we are assured that the shelter will not be sold out from under the children.

With the number of families that have signed up, we have four (4) years of shelter building ahead of us now. I remember when we only had one season ahead of us.

Materials: Constructing much of anything can be a challenge in Agua Prieta and it’s primarily due to materials being available as much as the quality of materials. As in any Project, the arrival of materials to the job site is always a relief. However, if receiving straight boards of consistent thickness, length and width is something you were counting on or all the concrete block being the same size or even square is expected or mixing with mortar sand that does not have to be sifted to remove rocks and ‘stuff’ is anticipated, this is the weekend you wasted your money on that Lottery ticket you bought before heading the Agua Prieta.

Availability and cost of materials in Mexico can change weekly and some materials such as Styrofoam, metal door frames and anchor bolts simply cannot be bought, period.

We buy as many materials in Mexico as we can. It helps support the local barrio community and reduces the costs of shipping the materials to the border, storage in Douglas and the 25% duty we have to pay to get it across.

However, many materials are brought from Tucson (either donated or purchased) and taken to Agua Prieta building sites in bits as we need them. These items include three different size anchor bolts, caulking, nails, screws, rafter ties, insulation, doors, metal door frames, door hardware, Styrofoam and thresholds.

The Colonia Ladrillera and the Territoria Movimiento Neighborhoods Barrio (Southwest Agua Prieta)

Area A The Colonia Ladrillera Neighborhood: East and west of Avenida 2 west of the railroad tracks and in blocks north of Calle 35th, water lines have been installed and most every lot is connected to the main line through ½” irrigation tubing with at least a hose bib in the yard or has access to a neighbors hose bib. Whether the main line is charged or has enough pressure is more of an issue. Since we started building in this immediate area, electrical lines and underground sewer have been installed. Again because of the cost, only about 40% are connected to electricity and 2% are connected to sewer. (No family I know is connected to sewer but I say 2% because, certainly, someone must be.)

Area B The Territoria Movimiento Neighborhood: For the first quarter mile south of Calle 35th water lines have been installed and only about 25% of the Shelters are connected. Electricity just recently became available and about 5% are connected. No sewer has been made available yet. Since so few lots north of 35th in Area A have connected, it is doubtful that sewer lines will ever be installed in this Area.

Area C: Beyond the first quarter mile, basic services do not yet exist. However, many families have set up shacks in the area and it is conceivable that some services may get installed in the next five years.

We build Shelters in both Neighborhoods in all three Areas. Certainly the Colonia Ladrillera Neighborhood Area A is convenient since a generator is not needed and water is usually on-site. As with our first shelter one in 1997, Agua Prieta Family Shelters, Inc. has built many shelters in this Neighborhood Area A.

Area B and C The Territoria Movimiento Neighborhood has have been our focus over the past several years. Our first training shelter was built in 2002 in this Neighborhood Area B. While the water lines were in the ground and the training shelter lot was connected, we had to truck our water in drums from service areas further north that had enough pressure to get the water out the end hose. We sure learned the definition of the term “trickle” and every drop counted.

The Shelter: The Shelters we build in Agua Prieta are at no charge to the family. The volunteers provide the labor and Agua Prieta Family Shelters, Inc. provides the materials. They are very basic but relatively maintenance free and very weather stable. In other sections of the Website we discuss the poor conditions in Agua Prieta and the lack of facilities and services. And that if services are provided, many of the shelter owners can not afford to pay the monthly charge to stay connected.

Consequently, the fewer the services the quicker the Shelter building. If there is nothing to hook up to outside, there is not much that needs to be provided for inside such as a sink, toilet or lights.

However, if water service is available, we pay to have a connection made to service the lot. And, if electricity is to be connected by the owner (if they pay and make the connection then they have determine the monthly fees are affordable) we provide a pre-wired package for interior lighting. If at a later date the owner of a previous built Shelter can afford to connect and pay the monthly charge, we are willing to provide a pre-wired package, at that time.

Shelter Construction: Most every Shelter is 14 feet x 32 feet. The size is controlled by the common lot width and the length that rafters are available. Sixteen feet is the maximum length and most lots are about 59 feet x 29 feet wide.

When I say most every Shelter is 14’ x 32’, we built a duplex for two sisters’ families that were close to each other on the list and lived next door to each other. We zeroed out the center lot line with a common masonry wall and built to within 4 feet of the other side lot lines. We have also built smaller shelters to fit on the lot that had on-site constraints such as soils conditions, drainage channels, etc.

The foundation is a minimum 14” wide x 8” deep with 2 sticks of ½” rebar and concrete filled. A cement block stem wall is placed on the footing to at least 2” above highest grade of the lot and is grouted solid with concrete. Twenty courses of ladrillo (burnt adobe – fired brick) are placed on the stem wall. Ladrillo are 7 inches wide and anywhere from 14” to 14 ¾” long. And, sometimes you are blessed with a mix of them in the same delivery.

With the mortar joint, each course is about 4 3/16” high. On the 20th course, 1”x 8” forms are fastened together in a trough design. Castillo, a 4” square mesh of steel twenty feet long is placed in the form and the form is poured full with concrete. This concrete bond bean is called a ‘dala’ which closely rhymes with mama. Six inch long x ½” anchor bolts are placed in the wet dala for the low long-wall and 24” anchor bolts are placed in the dala for the high wall. After the dala has set, four more courses of ladrillo are laid on the high wall and the side walls are tapered to the low wall.

Generally, each Shelter gets three 4’x 4’ single-glaze single-slide windows and two solid core 36” doors with thresholds and metal ‘knock-down’ frames. The rafters are 2” x 4” x 16 feet placed on 2 foot centers and fastened to a 2” x 6” plate. 1” x 4” purlins or stringers are fastened perpendicular to the rafters on 32 inch centers. One-inch Styrofoam sheeting is fastened to the stringers along with corrugated metal roofing. A sixteen foot rafter gives us a one-foot overhang across the 14 foot span. ½” x 6” x 24” boards are used for frieze boards and the fascia is 1” x 6”.

The wood is some kind of soft pine type material with an incredible shrinking “quality”. Therefore, in every case, we use exterior screws to fasten all wood products and metal roofing to the stringers.

The floor is concrete. We buy the owners enough concrete to pour their own floor after the Shelter is finished. We also loan them a cement mixer and buy them gasoline to run it. Pouring their own floor does two things. It frees us up to put more time into building other Shelters and it is a hard enough job that it will take the whole family to get it done. It makes them feel as though they took on an important role in building the Project and their effort fosters Pride of Ownership.

Photo Gallery | Agua Prieta Building Plans 2nd Edition (PDF)