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

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).