Plumbing 
Melissa Federspill|Leader-News
Evaristo Albarado in the doorway of his home at 322 W. Oak St. Albarado, who has lived in Uvalde for the past 70 years, built the home by hand from about 1971 to 1977.
One thought motivated Evaristo Albarado, 80, to spend seven years building a two-story home by hand for his family of five: “I just wanted something better than what we had.”
More than 50 years later, the home remains a symbol of family.
“I never had a dream of having a new car or a fancy car,” Albarado explained, adding that, instead, he dreamed of something his whole family could enjoy.
With little construction experience but determination, Albarado spent nights, weekends, and vacations from about 1971 to 1977 building the approximate 1,700-square-foot, four-bedroom home at 322 W. Oak St.
Albarado was working as a driver at General Tire, now Continental Tire. He and his wife, Benita, borrowed $5,500 to buy the lot.
“My grandfather had to find a reason to get the loan from the bank,” Albarado said. “The first thing we did – it needed a fence. We needed a fence to keep the kids inside.”
When making measurements for the fence, they found differences in the lot size on his title and had to hire a surveyor, which cost him $50.
“We had to get everything right. I didn’t want to infringe on someone’s property. What’s mine is mine, and I don’t want yours,” he said with a smile.
Once that was ironed out, Albarado said, he had to tear down an existing structure. He then removed a concrete slab by hand and a septic tank.
Freshly home from Vietnam and with a growing family, Albarado, at a suggestion from his uncle, hired an architect to create a blueprint.
“I didn’t know where to put my stairway to go up. He designed that,” Albarado recalled.
“I would say 90 to 95 percent of the nails [used to build the home] I drove them, and we didn’t have a nail gun back then,” he said. “I used to be real good with a hammer.”
The Albarado home at 322 W. Oak St.
At times, he said, his brother would come over and help and he remembers that he hired an electrician—but only because the building permit required it.
“I did all the wiring,” he said. “My wife was a little hesitant about electricity. A lot of people are afraid of the electric. I’m afraid of electricity now,” he chuckled.
He said his wife and children were also part of the construction crew.
“They would come over here, and I’d be working. One time, I’m working up there in the bedroom and I couldn’t find my ruler. The two oldest ones were up there and they brought it down – I had to think, ‘What happened?’ And then I remembered they were up here,” he laughed.
Albarado, who was born in California but grew up in Rio Frio, said John Burns, his neighbor when he was building his house, was a local rancher and real estate agent with property in Catarina.
Burns knew Albarado’s family from their days in Rio Frio.
“He would watch us work and ask us how come we weren’t out at the festival – you know, Cinco de Mayo,” Albarado said, chuckling. He said Burns loaned him $15,000 to build the home.
“The rest was from my working,” Albarado said.
Evaristo Albarado in his living room in the home he built by hand at 322 W. Oak St
He also talked about craftsmanship, pride in building something of quality, and the difference in today’s new homes.
“If you’re going to build something, build it right the first time, or you are going to have to come back and redo it.”
He said if he mentions selling the house, his children ask him not to.
A few days after hosting his family for the Easter holiday, Albarado invited the newspaper into his formal living room that boasts a huge bay window and hand-crafted French doors from Mexico.
Smiling, he talked about watching his grandchildren play in his yard and around the house. He said he enjoys being with his family and helping when he can.
“Isn’t that our purpose in life, to try to show other people love?” Albarado asked. Albarado said he has a brain tumor and has undergone several different types of treatment for it over the years. Lately, he worries about what will happen if he gets dizzy or loses balance.
He has five children that live in the surrounding area, including four daughters, Emma Albarado, Emie Pace, Elsie Routh, and Elida Lopez, and one son, Evaristo Albarado Jr.
He reflected on losing his wife after more than five decades of marriage.
Benita, who he said enjoyed working on the house, died in 2021 at the age of 77. After she died, he said, he lost 40 pounds and has tried to get back to a better weight.
Talking about now living in the house alone, Albarado said it’s large for one person.
“I built too big of a house,” he said.
mfederspill@ulnnow.com, 830-278-3335
