One Step forward...half a step back

Well, its really not "one step forward and two steps back, because we did make some headway today and if the weather holds will make a lot more by week end. ...but first the photos (scroll to end for the "half step back")

So this is how we left the site last Friday

This morning activity started on the blockwork

By the end of the day...wow!!
Now the details

First the mixing station where all the mortar premix was combined with sand and water.

This was the cutting station. Why did we need a cutting station?...

Because the footer was so uneven. If you look at the above photo you will notice the mortar was laid very, very thick underneath the dark block, but it gets much thinner immediately under the dry block on the left. So in addition to laying down a thick mortar bed in some areas they also had to trim down block...hence the cutting station. They had to saw all the way around the block to take a block that started at 7" high and make it ...6" (or whatever the appropriate dimension was). I'm sure it was extra labor I paid for, but it didn't seem to slow the crew down much.

Andrew by the garage area. The floor of the garage will be on level with the top row of block. We will fill in with gravel and have a wire mat for reinforcement. When we get done I'll finally be able to park my car alongside Marta's INSIDE! Whoopee!

This is a close-up of the "L" brick at the garage. They didn't lay this block where I thought they were going to. I'll have to check on this tommorrow and make sure it's in the right spot.

This is a shot of the tie-downs for the sill plate. These will bend up and over the sill plate to anchor it to the block wall.

Now for the half step back...there are no photos to go with this, but you can refer back to the "nailing of the footer." The surveyor nailed the footer at the brick line, not the block line. What that means is that they marked the location of the outside edge of the brick work. The problem is we are NOT using brick. We are only using 8" block! The "brick line" is about 4" past the "block line." What this means is that the house is now 4" to 8" too long and wide. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it can be. If we had a complicated roof line it could really throw a wrench in the works. As it is, it will mainly impact some of the overhang and the end gables. There will be (imagine this) a bit of extra labor (wow...how many times will I post that in conjunction with how many mistakes?), but I think we can overcome it. More on that later.