Two steps forward... one step back

Unfortunately I had to tear out all the work I did Wednesday on the north wall... It just wasn't close to being level like I had thought... so I got out the 10# sledge hammer and pounded it out. It was a big disappointment but I'm learning the tricks and I hope that I'll have the first course completed tomorrow... Monday at the latest. The following picture includes the pile of rubble (on the right) which had been the north wall before I tore it out. I haven't mortared these blocks yet but it should go pretty fast now that they are drilled, etc.We still have trim, siding for the gables and a door to put on our storage building (320 sq. feet) but it is dried in and pretty much ready to receive our "stuff" from the container and the building in Monteagle ($130/month savings... YEAH!). If you'll look closely at the right side of the building (which is the south side), you'll see a panel which is clear plastic that will serve as a small "greenhouse" to grow vegetables.

Working on getting the twains to meet...

Today I started the north wall (56' east-to-west and includes our front door and 5 windows)... it was slow going at first because I had problems with my blocks breaking because my rebar hole was too close to the outside wall of the block. As the day progressed, however, I figured out how to overcome the problem. I will have to do some tweaking to get the first course perfectly level but David Musser, my helper, is going to loan me his grinder which will speed up the process. When I'm level and ready for the second course, I really do think it will go MUCH faster than what I've experienced to date. David Musser told me I should fire my block mason (ME) because I am so slow... he said I worked at the speed of a NYC union worker with lots of seniority.

In the background of this picture you can see the 16' X 20' storage building that will be dried in tomorrow by noon. This will allow us to consolidate our storage needs into this building and save us $130/month.

East is east & west is west... tomorrow the twain shall meet

Well, today I got the east wall laid in mortar with adhesive on the butt joints... the wall still needs a little tweaking, but progress is being made... slowly but surely. I'm even more confident now that when I start the second course that the whole process will go much faster. I'm learning how to lay the block and course 2 and above only require the polymer adhesive not mortar AND the adhesive. Physically this is VERY demanding but I can tell I'm getting a little stronger every day... YEAH!
Tomorrow I have to join the east wall with the west wall... then we'll be rockin' & rollin'.

I finally made some progress laying block... slow but sure

It was a BEAUTIFUL day here on our Tennessee mountain... a GREAT day to be alive for sure! This was my first day of actual corner-to-corner-fill-in-the-blocks block laying. I'm making progress although it is slow... getting the first course level is so critical but I expect to pick up some steam as I continue to lay & learn. This is a picture of the first course on the west wall that I laid today... I am pleased with it being straight and level... more laying tomorrow if I can drag my sore 61 year old body out of bed tomorrow morning.

It was a BEAUTIFUL afternoon, but we didn't get much done

It rained this morning but the afternoon was spectacular. Alas, we didn't get much done except to tear out the kennel we had built here at the apartment for our three boys last winter. It's warm now and they don't have to be inside with us... they can stay across the road in their fenced area. Speaking of "the boys" here are pictures of our three sweet guys:

This is Alexis and our lovable lug, Baxter (aka "Mr B," "Big B," "Baxter Boo")
Here is Mosby rescued 2 years ago from starving... possibly the world's worst hunter (aka "Mose-Bose"... "nobody knows where Mose-Bose goes?")

Boone (aka "Boone-Dog," "Boone-Hoone") is terminally happy... NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer but ALWAYS happy!

Painfully slow progress

These blocks are not set in mortar... they are cut and drilled ready to be set tomorrow if it doesn't rain. I think once I get this first course in that the rest will go up relatively easily and quickly. The learning curve is steep here in the beginning and then there's the matter of me not being physically able to work a full 8 hour day yet.

Can you spell STUPID... I can!

One thing I have come to admire about the good old boys here in Tennessee is their down home country common sense. They think before they act and rarely have to repeat a motion unlike me. Today I realized that I hadn't checked the diagonal on the completed slab to verify it was square so necessary adjustments could be made if necessary. In the meantime I had had the guy that delivered the AAC block put pallets of block anywhere it was convenient for him on the slab. A good old boy would have anticipated this sort of thing and would have specified better placement of the pallets so they would not have to be moved until they were laid. Unfortunately I hadn't considered this and the haphazard placement of the pallets obstructed the clear view and I couldn't measure from corner to corner to check the squareness of the slab. I moved 3 or 4 pallets by hand before running out of gas and still had 2 pallets to move. I did what any tuckered out city/college boy would do... I got a bigger hammer. To be specific I got a ten pound sledge hammer and busted 3 blocks out of one pallet to create a clear shot from corner to corner (see picture, below). This is not the recommended method but I wasn't up to moving the blocks by hand and I had to know if I was still square. Happily, I was... 61' 9" both ways. After my demolition derby, I got the 4th corner block laid so tomorrow I should be able to "turn and burn"... well maybe not "turn and burn" but I should be able to get a number of the first course blocks laid in mortar and ready to glue the other 12 courses.

After a "minor" adjustment with my 10# sledge hammer I can measure from corner to corner... this method is NOT recommended.