Typical housing

This is typical urban housing in Northern Nicaragua, and much of Central America. The basic design, in its adobe walls and tile roof form, goes back to Arab North Africa. It made a lot of sense: it used local materials, and provided protection from the sun, wind, enemies, and wild animals. It included a central garden of a utilitarian nature, chickens and such. Also key to this design was that the central garden let in some light and air.

In its modern day version in Esteli, it has concrete walls and zinc roof. Front windows are usually left closed to keep out street dust. Ventilation and access for flies and mosquitos is provided by all of the holes in the walls and where the walls meet the roof. Typically, these houses have no ceilings or window screens. Many do not have glass windows, just holes in the wall. Net effect is a dandy solar cooker: the zinc attracts the heat and the concrete holds it in!

This example has fresh paint, a rarety. Although some are dolled up inside, many look far worse on the inside than this exterior. When the money or interest runs out, the construction stops. Plumbing and electrical can best be described as ïnteresting¨.

In the eternal race to the bottom, of trying to accomodate more and more people for less money, many of these houses have enclosed the central garden, guaranteeing that there is no hope for air or light.

If a foreigner is contemplating living in this type of housing, I would suggest that he or she consider their tolerance for heat, dust, mosquitos, and assorted vermin before they get in too deep. Alergies are also a big issue here for sensitive people, local and foreign. And note that this is the typical or ¨middle income´ housing. There are better houses in town, few and far between, and lots of worse housing made of wood.

If you plan on buying one of these ¨Colonial¨ charms, you should plan on extensive remodeling and select one that still has some open space somewhere to provide some ventilation. A tip:if the stucture has wooden rafters, which are probably termite damaged, check to see that the pillars (structural component)conceiled in the concrete walls are made of concrete and rebar. Often they are made of wood and need to be change out, at considerable expense, when you do a roof job.

Another joy of zinc roofs is the cat noise in the middle of the nite. Remember the movie ¨Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? They have lots of fun at 3 in the morning, but you don´t.

I suppose there might be a reason to rehab and remodel a house in northern Nic., but I think one is better off building from scratch. Better to live with your own mistakes than tried and true traditional ones.