Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Laying Block


This past weekend we laid up our block. We went with one row of block 8 inches high.
The outside 4 inch block is a decorative piece, then 2 inches of insulation, then a 6 inch regular cinder block on the inside. Like usual we had lots of help. We really couldn't have done it without them.






Here we are snapping the chalk lines and mixing the cement. You'll notice in other photos that we do have a cement mixer. We just don't have an actual outlet yet. So for now we will use our wheelbarrow.







The outside corners were the first to be put down. Then came the striking.















Everybody was helping out it was great!
























Day two: we laid the inside blocks, insulation, and drilled rebar into the slab. The rebar will also stick up into the walls a couple of inches to tie it all together.






























Last block!


















We just had to set some cordwood on it.


























The walls are so close now I can hardly wait. So much work has been put into the building already. Laying up the cordwood walls will be so rewarding. This weekend we will have 5 days off!! Most people will be out celebrating the 4th of July but not us. Our plan is to start with the actual cordwood walls this weekend!!!!!! Woo Hoo

Friday, June 18, 2010

Power and the slab

It's official we have power!!


Now we just need to hook up an outlet on the meter so we can use it.
Work has been keeping us really busy but we are still finding time to work on the house.
We finished up our prep work and......
































Then we poured our slab with a lot of help. We couldn't have done it without these guys!









































Just after we made some finishing touches to the slab, a tree snapped. It was coming right for the slab. The winds were 30 mph! What timing huh. Luckily it got hung up on another tree and we had some time to pull it out of the way of the uncured slab.




















Soon to come, THE WALLS!!!