It was a BEAUTIFUL day in Tennessee!

What a GREAT day to be alive especially if - like Alexis and me - you live in rural middle Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau. I got the 9th course in the west wall glued today and started on the 10th course... just 3 more courses before the bond beam which will tie the walls together from the footing through the slab and the AAC walls up to the bond beam with 3" concrete/rebar columns. The wall between the front door and the dining room window is a little out of plumb but I think I can "fix it" as I lay the remaining 3 courses... if not, I'll tear the 4' section out and lay it again. Here are some pictures from late this afternoon:
Starting the 10th course:
This is a long shot of the west wall:As you can see we've almost finished the east and the west walls. Remember our south wall will be a traditional "stick built" wall because of all the window and door openings. It will be much easier to put the windows in a 2" X 6" wooden wall than to struggle with the long (and heavy!) masonry lentils:Obviously, my block laying has been slow going but the good part is I've continued to research alternative building methods and I've come up with something that will REALLY insure our home's energy efficiency. I'm going to put "foil-foam-foil" on the outside of the AAC block and screw metal lathe on top of it. We'll stucco over the lathe. This "foil-foam-foil" is rated at R-14.5 so it will act as a "thermal break" between the outside extremes summer & winter and my AAC block which will allow the block to not only insulate but also act as "thermal mass" for my "high thermal mass" design. The thermal break will allow the blocks to act like a battery in the winter and hold the heat produced by my passive solar design until nightfall when it will give off the heat absorbed during the day and make the interior VERY easy to heat. The reverse happens in the summer and tends to keep the house interior cooler.