Preparing for the Walls, June 2008
While the foundation was going in, Aaron and I prepared to begin wall-building. Scott taught us the fine art of door and window bucks, we unwrapped the carefully curing bricks, we screened dirt for the mud slip that would hold the bricks together in our walls, and we moved pallets around. Our goal was to get everything ready so the wall building would commence smoothly. You can read about the wall building in the next "chapter."
Aaron unwrapping bricks after they have cured for about a month. If the compressed earth blocks (CEBs) are not stabilized, they don't need to cure; we chose to stabilize with lime (see the brick making page).
Aaron cutting lumber.
Scott and Aaron working away.
Triangles of plywood.
Aaron and Scott.
Finished door and window bucks.
Unexpectedly, after we had unwrapped the bricks, it rained hard---but fortunately briefly. At 6:00am we awoke to the sound of the rain and rushed out to our site to make sure the plastic was in place on top of the bricks. The bricks were perfectly fine---that's why we stabilized them, to improve their water resistancy---but we wanted to check on them anyway.
We built a screen to sift the dirt to 1/8th inch or smaller, and used soil from our site.
A pile of dirt.
Aaron carrying some lumber.
We rented a Bobcat for the wall-building week.
Aaron moving a pallet up to the building site.
Pallets in the "garage", and Aaron working out a detail.
Scott preparing the laser level on the morning of the wall-building party, the next chapter in our adventure....
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©2008 Amy Jordan; Email Me.