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Flood Control: If You Can't Beat 'em, Join 'em

April 20, 2015

During rainy season in the Municipio de Tamazulo, in Jalisco, warm water drops from the sky in torrents—too much to control. So my farther-in-law designed the thresholds into the bedrooms of his house with a 6-in curb, like a shower curb.

When the flood comes, the water races through the front door and down the hall, floods the living area, then flows out the back door into a creek.

The beds remain dry, and it’s easy to set the dining room furniture up on crates to keep dry. But the refrigerator is too heavy. Although a little rusty, it has seen about seven floods without losing its cool.


Fernando Pagés Ruiz is ProTradeCraft's Latin America Editor. He is currently building a business in Ecuador and a house in Mexico. Formerly, he was a builder in the Great Plains and mountain states. He is author of Building an Affordable House and Affordable Remodel (Taunton Press).

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