Wall Building Weekend, June 7-8, 2008
We decided to try an adobe-style "barn raising", inviting our friends out on a sunny June weekend to help us raise the earthen walls. The weekend almost didn't happen--our foundation was poured Friday at 5:00pm before the Saturday of the work party. Unfortunately, it was Saturday morning when some major problems with the foundation work were revealed. The stem wall was WAAAY not level (though it was poured weeks earlier, its unlevelness became apparent when the slab was in); the finished floor was a few inches too high; and the door openings were wrong.
The first of those problems---the waviness of the stem wall---dictated Saturday's work. Instead of a fun day of watching the walls rise quickly with a mud slurry, the entire first day was spent carefully laying thick cement mortar joints between the stem wall and the first course of compressed earth blocks (CEBs). In some places, the stem wall was almost 2 inches too low, so we placed cement backerboard before the first brick to raise it to the right level (a solution that was devised by Josh around noon on Saturday).
Because of all the trouble-shooting on Saturday, the morning was quite chaotic. By the afternoon, however, two teams of 3-4 were painstakingly laying the first course, working that thick mortar joint to get the blocks quite level; another team was mixing concrete; and another team was working on the door bucks. By the end of the day, the first course was almost entirely laid.
On Sunday, we had fewer people, but the walls went up *fast* because the first course was now nice and level. Instead of cement we got to work with a mud slip between the bricks, and it was very satisfying to watch the walls rise.
Thank you so, SO much to everyone who came out. We are extremely grateful and touched by your donating weekend days to come and do hard manual labor. It means a lot to us that the foundations of our house were built by friends! Thanks to Scott C, Scott Z from Grants, Brendan, Haj, Sundarta, Ryan, James, Brooke, Jamal, Joe, Josh, Thorsten, Gabriela, Blair, Edie, Pete, Steve, Marci, and Jamal and Brendan again (for coming back a second day!!).
Saturday morning, with the fresh slab covered up at the edges. We laid plastic and some cheap wood paneling along the edges for protection (the concrete slab is our finished floor).
Haj checking the levelness (levelity?) of a block.
A group working in the corner. It was around this time that Aaron returned from a Home Depot run and pointed out that the blocks were supposed to be laid the OTHER way, so the walls of the garage would be 14 inches thick and not 10. OOOPS---that was a really, really dumb mistake on my part, and I'll have to remember that one every time I get mad at a contractor for screwing up. Sorry everybody!
Sundarta.
Joe, Brooke, and Ryan.
Haj and James.
Brendan.
Jamal laying a brick.
Brooke troweling.
Scott and Haj.
James and Sundarta.
Joe.
Ryan and Josh.
Haj and Scott preparing a door buck.
Josh, Gabriela, and Ryan.
Aaron.
Gabriela.
Thorsten.
Haj.
A group working in the northwest corner, and the garage door buck going up.
Aaron and James mixing cement.
Gabriela leveling.
Haj troweling.
Josh.
Scott and Gabriela.
Bricks keeping true to the line. (More or less!)
Josh is behind door #1.
Aaron and James.
The south patio door is up.
A day's work: the first course was hard to lay, but our strong teams of now-expert masons did an awesome job.
Aaron and Steve laying blocks on Sunday.
The mud slip: way more fun than cement.
The mud slip bulging out of a course.
Marci, the weekend before her wedding!
Jamal helping out for his second day.
Scott.
Jamal, Brendan, Scott.
The mud slip comes from dirt on our site that has been screened to 1/8th inch. It's a two-person job---one to shovel the dirt and the other to force the dirt through the screen.
Aaron.
Marci.
Brendan and Jamal working on the big south side window bucks.
Aaron and Amy.
The second day's work: the wall was raised to about four courses.
Aaron points to a plumbing mistake. These pipes are where a brick wall should be. We carefully designed our house so almost all the plumbing would be in a frame "wet wall"; the two bathrooms (upstairs & down) are stacked.
The south wall. After a long day of work (before 7:00 am to after 8:00 pm), Aaron locked his keys in the truck and we spent another hour fishing for the door handle with some copper wire. It was a funny, though frustrating, end to a very cool weekend.
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