Building Progress

How fun to see building progress all at once! From the north wall blocks not quite finished.

And then the blocks were done. Then came grouting down into the cells, hoisting the mortar up to the top of the wall and dumping it in.

Then the horrible realization that, cells grouted and finished, the lintel wouldn't fit. After a day of chipping away, and maneuvering the heavy lintel all by himself, twelve feet in the air, Phil ended the day with a workable window space.

The next day he had the top level bond beam in place. Rebar went in to add horizontal support, and Phil cut away all the vertical rebar that poked out of the top a bit.

Later, he had the full bond beam set in place.

With both walls as high as they will be, the space began to feel more like a real space.

Then Phil poured the bond beam and put in regularly-space bolts for the roof to connect to one of these days.

That brings us to the end of March. Considering how many days were too cold, or too rainy, or spent running unavoidable errands, or caring for the basic needs of the family, that is reasonable progress.

In April, Phil shifted to the south and east walls. But first, he had to pour three central column supports. First he scraped the gravel to create a level building site.

Next he built the forms and made the cute rebar grid for support.

After building three of them, he poured some concrete.

In a flash of typical Phil humor, he saw the camera go up and pretended to shoot the "dead" animal. (Shadow was not harmed in the taking of this photo.) I would never think to do such a thing. Gender difference? Probably.

We debated whether to bring all the blocks into the work area inside or to leave them out. In the end, we decided to leave them out: with three foundations, two scaffolds, and various tools, not to mention the fact that Phil would have to carry most of the blocks from one side to the other, we opted to leave them out. That may have been the wrong decision, but once made, too bad. Phil pulled the ramp and epoxied in the rebar supports we had had to leave out to offer tractor access.

Next: fill in the space where the ramp had been with 12" blocks and 12" bond beam, then pour the bond beam. And wait a few days for the bond beam to set.

Since then, he's laid half-high blocks and worked on the fourth corner.

As the wall grew higher, he needed an easier way to bring block in. A ramp helped.

And that brings us through about last Friday.