29 Camino de la Ciruela

WATER
The Village community water system is fed by Ciruela Spring just east of the property. Irrigation water is delivered via the acequia (which predates the Spanish.) The patio landscaping is watered by a drip system on a timer.

Most of the plumbing is in galvanized pipe. Copper was run underneath both bathrooms and the kitchen in conjunction with remodel work. The main shutoff for the village community water system is at the meter on the east side of the driveway. The village shutoff is in the meter box. There is an additional curb stop on the owner’s side of the barbed wire fence, and another outside the kitchen wall.

There is a small drilled well with surface Jacuzzi jet pump and small storage tank in the power house. The well is in the driveway near the large elm tree. In normally wet years, the original cistern NE of the corral will fill. Valves allow water from any of these sources to be run to the house. The corral hydrant can be fed by either the cistern or the village water.

ROOF
The original roof was of decking covered with dirt. A standard built-up roof was added in the 1950’s, with the dirt returned on top. In the 1980’s, the dirt was replaced with 3” of rigid urethane insulation, and a new built-up roof installed. The house was re-roofed completely with modified asphalt roofing in 2005.

WALLS
All walls of the house, interior and exterior, are of adobe and rock except some bathroom walls, the walls separating the kitchen from the dining room, and the laundry room from the kitchen. These are frame. In the late 1980’s, the stucco on the outside of the house was covered with 4 inches of rigid urethane insulation of the type used on the roof, and new stucco applied over this. A network of conduits for phone, TV, etc. were added at this time. Most of the interior plaster is tierra blanca, a mud of raw gypsum and sand.

FLOORS
The kitchen and the new (south) bath have a poured concrete floor. The other rooms originally had adobe floors. The Pierces imbedded 2X4’s into the adobe to which to nail pine boards (oak in the office) for a better floor. The Ericksens covered this with plywood and to that nailed the Ύ” thick tongue and groove oak flooring. The great room, west bedroom, west bath and its hallway have wood floor joist over crawl space, decked with subfloor beneath the oak/tile. The west bathroom tile is set on cement board.

WINDOWS
Windows are Madrid double pane, insulated anodized aluminum. They replaced wooden six-light barn windows that were used throughout the house, explaining the common height of all windows. Larger windows were created by installing multiple barn windows side by side. The mirror in the hall outside the west bathroom is made from the old windows, complete with their hinges and latches.

WIRING
All electric wiring is in steel conduit except some of the outlets associated with the recent remodels, which are 3 wire romex. All outlets are 3 wire and grounded. Kitchen, bathroom, and outdoor outlets are ground fault protected. All rooms have ample outlets, spaced typically 5-6 feet apart. . There are outlets on the house roof operated by a timer for Christmas lights.

TV reception is via two Blonder-Tongue distribution amplifiers. Great room, dining room, office, and all bedrooms have working phone jacks; coaxial cable is run to those rooms, but not all have been connected in the distribution amp boxes. Also run in the conduits are extra wires for speakers, intercom, whatever.

Power and phone utility drops run underground in steel conduit from the road.

HEATING
Heating is by propane heaters in each room. These units vent through the wall, with combustion air drawn from outside and pre-heated by the exhaust stream by way of a double walled pipe. The fireboxes are sealed from the interior of the house for safety. A control on each heater automatically controls the temperature for that room (one heater has a thermostat instead.) The heaters have automatically operated fans. These units are more than adequate to heat the house.

There are two water heaters, one for the kitchen, the other for the baths, which also run on propane, as does the kitchen range.

3500 gallons of propane storage allows fuel to be purchased by the truckload at a discount, with no need for winter deliveries. One tank is used at a time, and manually changed.

SEPTIC TANKS
The house is served by two two-chamber septic tanks – one for the kitchen and the new bathroom, the other for the west bath. Tanks and tile fields are in excellent condition, last pumped in 2006.

OUTBUILDINGS
The building closest to the house is adobe except for the westernmost room, which is concrete block (machine shop built in 1994.) This floor is 6” high strength concrete. The machine shop has refrigerated air, heat (same unit as the house), water, and sewer. Of the other three rooms, the westernmost (shop) was originally used to house coal, which was used for heating and cooking.. The middle room (garage) has a 6’ deep grease pit in the floor. There is an electric space heater ceiling mounted. The long narrow store room behind the garage is concrete block. The easternmost room (power house) originally housed the batteries and backup generator for the wind system. It subsequently has housed backup electric generators. There are exhaust fans mounted in most of the ceilings.

The remote building to the SE is concrete block, and also has a high strength floor in the larger room. The doors on the west are insulated and slide on a track. The entire west side of the large room can be opened. Both rooms have ceiling mounted fan driven vented propane heaters. Both buildings are wired for both 110V and 220V, with ample outlets.

POND AND WATERFALL
The water feature in the patio was constructed by Jim Stewart of Southwest Fountains and Waterfalls, Albuquerque. It is completely lined with rubber sheeting. There are two pumps, each in a separate plastic box to protect it from sediment and debris. One runs continuously, skimming water from the top of the pond, which passes through a fiber filter before being pumped into a gravel filled planter at the top of the waterfall. The water is cleaned by the gravel and the plant roots. The plants are fertilized by the fish, which also take care of the mosquito larvae. The second pump draws water from the bottom of the pond and delivers it out a hole in a rock near the head of the waterfall. This is for a more spectacular stream, and also to be sure the bottom water is turned over and oxygenated. This pump is switched. The water feature is very low maintenance.

TOWER
The tower originally supported a wind turbine. Tower space is currently leased to T-Mobile and the Placitas Volunteer Fire Brigade for communications. T-Mobile leases the tower top and pad space adjacent to the dog run. The Fire Brigade leases the stacked dipole antenna, its transmission line, and space inside the power house for a repeater and duplexer. T-Mobile pays $517.50/ mo ($6210/yr.) Sandoval County pays $3360 annually for the fire repeater. This includes electric power. T-Mobile has its own power drop and meter, located beside the driveway near the road. The original tower was replaced with Rohn 45-G in 1994; T-Mobile re-engineered the guy anchors in 1998. As a provision of their lease, T-Mobile is responsible for all tower maintenance. Sandoval County contracts separately for maintenance on its equipment, including the antenna and transmission line, which belong with the tower.

FACTINOS

• The property is approx. 11.23 acres.
• I have identified 93 species of birds on this property, owing to the diversity of ecosystems and proximity of water.
• The westernmost pasture area and the terraced hill south of the house was once a vineyard. Some of the grape plants have survived. The pebbly sides of the terraces have been a great source for Indian artifacts.
• When this house was a trading post, it boasted the only phone in the area. It was a fire phone, a wooden crank unit connected to a single piece of #9 iron wire that ran across the mountain to the Forest Service ranger station in Tijeras. The operator in Tijeras could connect calls from Placitas residents to the outside world. The line was maintained by Ron on horseback.
• The great room was originally a stable. Locals claimed that Armijo had buried gold in the stable. When Ron built the great room, he had to do considerable digging in order to level the floor, as there had been three rooms and a portal, all with different floor levels. The gold was tempting, but the strong young man could sink a pick only about Ό” at a time in that old adobe floor, and settled for leveling the floor and leaving the gold to the ghosts. He did, however, unearth the bones of a horse.
• The west bathroom and hallway were once the smoke house.
• The yard and parking area outside the kitchen and office were once at the level of the lower rock terraces; several steps went down into the house, which was partly underground on that side. The yard was lowered in the 1950’s, using a small crawler tractor built in 1937 – which still runs.
• In the event of heavy rain, there is a drain in the SW corner of the patio, leading to the west side of the house.
• The climbing rose and trumpet vine in the patio, and the apricot, plum, wild cherry, and apple trees are more than 50 years old – very likely a lot more.
• The wild cherries growing along the acequia are native to northern New Mexico, and make excellent pies and wine.
• There are at least 5 varieties of plum (ciruela) growing on the property, some wild.
• Bosc pears, as well as apples, wild cherries, and plums, grow in the arroyo south of the house, which would be a creek were the village not diverting the spring water. The creek runs most winters, when irrigation is suspended.
• Garlic grows wild in the field along the road.
• Stream orchids grow along the acequia and in the filter to the water feature in the patio. They are a relatively rare native species, but plentiful along the Placitas acequias.
• An attempt is being made to place the land between this property and the Sandia Mountain Wilderness under a conservation easement, to protect it from development.
• The trailhead for the original North Crest Trail to Sandia Crest was here at the trading post. This old trail still exists, and joins the modern trail (trailhead at Tunnel Springs) at the head of the canyon south of the house.
  
  
  This listing is offered by:
  
  Knight Realty & Associates, LLC
  Email: Alexa Knight
  Office: 505.299.8343