Roselea

Category: Build Progress

  • Day 7 of Perimeter Wall Construction, Layer by Layer

     We finished off the 1st layer this morning and then started the 2nd layer around the back of the building (Bedroom 3 and just into Bedroom 2) before lunch. That was 28 blocks in that session.

    Walls-Layer-2-Bedrooms-23

    Walls-Layer-2-Bedrooms-23

    Then this afternoon, we zoomed along Bedroom 2, Bedroom 1 and half way around the Great Room before we ran out of mortar, plonking down a further 40 concrete blocks!

    Walls-Layer-2-Great-Room-Started

    Walls-Layer-2-Great-Room-Started

    Walls-End-Day-7

    Walls-End-Day-7


    That is a total of 68 blocks for the day – WOW!

    Tomorrow, we hope to complete the 2nd layer, doing a further 70 or so blocks, which should be feasible judging by this afternoon’s speed!!

  • Day 6 of Perimeter Wall Rising Out Of Ground!

     Today we carried on doing the 1st layer of the blocks, filling in the straight portions between the corners. Even though we had a delayed start (due to a haircut session!) we still did two loads of mortar, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. We did 49 blocks in total and have completed all the way around the Great Room, Kitchen, Hall and Entertainment room, and almost the front section of the Utility Room.

    Walls-End-of-day-6

    Walls-End-of-day-6

    So tomorrow, Just got the one more block to finish the front wall, and then the long run of 19 blocks to the back and to the beginning of where we started yesterday! We had used quite a lot of mortar for this tier of the wall so when we do the 2nd (plus the 3rd and the top 4th) tier, which will have a much more controlled mortar thickness (a thin 10mm thick instead of a rough 20mm), our mortar will go much further indeed and we may run out of time before the mortar goes off. We will see!!

  • Day 5 of Perimeter Wall Construction

     Today, in a mixture of sunshine and clouds but no rain, we finished off the final 9½ corners to complete the 4 tiers we got designed for our Perimeter Wall, this adds up to 19 blocks mortared in place.

    We then started on doing the straight parts of the perimeter wall, using a new template tool we quickly knocked together to provide a way of applying  two even strips of mortar onto the concrete foundation

    Plus a string pulled tight between the corners to provide a nice ruler  straight line to alight the blocks! We did a further 40 blocks to go around the 1st layer, completing about a third way around. This first level is slower because it needs more mortar and time to make sure it is set properly on the rough foundation strips, but we should speed up once we get onto the 2nd layers and beyond!!

    Walls-End-of-Day-5

    Walls-End-of-Day-5

    Walls-Day-5-

    Walls-Day-5-


    Tomorrow, we resume and hopefully will do about another 50 to 60 blocks and finish the complete circuit!

  • Day 4 – Perimeter Wall Corners Taking Shape!

     Today, under a cloudy sky and swirling winds, we finished off the 3rd tier of concrete blocks, doing 12 corners to complete the loop around the building, each corner having 3 blocks mortared in place.

    All-4-layers-on-first-corner

    All-4-layers-on-first-corner

    Then we sliced off 75 mm off of 14 blocks (see image below) using a diamond disc in the angle grinder.

    Cutting-blocks

    Cutting-blocks

    To start the 4th and final layer our perimeter wall will have one of these shortened blocks in the corner with the cut off piece around the corner. We completed 4½ corners, this time each has 2 blocks!

    End-of-Day-4

    End-of-Day-4

    On Monday, we will finish off the remaining 9½ corners and then we can get on with filling in the straights between all the corners!! Phew!

  • Day 3 of Perimeter Block Wall Construction

     We carried on with doing the 2nd course of concrete blocks, working around the 9 corners. We decided to split the mortar amount in half so that we could control when and how far the mortar reached before stopping for lunch or the end of the day. Today, we had events to attend to in the late afternoon so we worked through lunch until we had finished the 2nd load of mortar. That was 5 hours straight (with plenty of water breaks!).

    We managed to do the 9 corners and then 2 corners of the next level up.

    First-2-Corners-3-High

    First-2-Corners-3-High

    End-of-Day-3

    End-of-Day-3


    Tomorrow, we will try and finish the 3rd layer and hopefully go a long way to finishing the 4th and final layer too!!

  • Day 2 of Perimeter Wall Construction

     In the morning we finished off the front 5 corners to complete the set of 14 corners our building has, and this allows us to get a consistent and accurate construction of our Perimeter Wall.

    After lunch, we assembled our next template tool to help us apply a uniform parallel strip of mortar on top of the blocks

    Motar-Bed-Application-tool

    Motar-Bed-Application-tool

    We then started on the second layer of concrete blocks, using our new tool as shown above, and we did 5 corners before we ran out of time and energy in this very hot day!

    Wall-corner-2-Layers

    Wall-corner-2-Layers

    End-of-day-2

    End-of-day-2


    We resume on Friday and carry on doing the second and (third and fourth) layers at each of the corners.

  • Perimeter Wall Commences – Day 1

     We finally start going upwards with our building, we have done virtually all of 9 corners out of the 14 we have in our house. The first course of block work is laid in these corners, using our L template and other tools to make a good neat job.

    First-layer-on-9-Corners-1

    First-layer-on-9-Corners-1

    We have put down 44 blocks in today’s work, 23 for the morning session and 21 in the afternoon session, each taking one load of mixing using half a bag of cement and 3 builder’s buckets of soft sand, which is about a 4 to 1 ratio (40 litres of sand against 10 litres of cement powder).

    First-layer-on-9-Corners-2

    First-layer-on-9-Corners-2

    Tomorrow, we will put down the 1 odd block to finish off the front Great room corner and then do the front extension porch and the front Utility room corner and then we will be back to the beginning again. We will check the alignment by stretching out some string and see how each corner matches up. Then we will start on the second course of concrete blocks on all the corners, but this time, put down 4 blocks on top of the 5 blocks we have done today. Because of the overlapping nature of the 140 mm wide blocks, we will have to slice off 75 mm off one block to make it go around the corner, overlapping the joints and hollows properly.

  • Assembled More Tools and Setup for Job!

     Today, we finished assembling our various templates and tools to help us build the wall. The L right angle template is working fine outside, after we have also made a couple of plumb bob holders, one for the corner and another for lining up the arms.

    One was using an standard camera tripod unit with the adjustable head removed to straddle over the corner and position the plumb bob down to the point at the corner on the L template, and the other one is a little triangular platform with 3 legs.

    Tripod-and-Tripod

    Tripod-and-Tripod

    Then, we made a little flat tool with two spirit level vials screwed on it and a short post going upwards  to attach the laser detector unit to. This will both test the height of the block and also the horizontal level too.

    On the other end of the laser level system, is the transmitter and we built a 4 tier “shelf” unit to allow for the laser generator to be placed on 4 different levels, each one being separated exactly 225 mm apart, that represent’s the height of a block (215 mm) plus a 10 mm mortar line.

    Storie-Laser-Pole-and-Detector-Unit

    Storie-Laser-Pole-and-Detector-Unit

    After lunch, we set up the equipment for mixing the mortar, got out the machine, water and electricity, opened up one of the stack of cement bags and discovered that it is going hard in places, so we sieved the content to get rid of the lumps!! Then getting the laser platform with its new “shelf” set up and calibrated that for an extra thick mortar joint (doubled to 20 mm) to adsorb any unevenness in our foundation strips.

    At this point it was nearly 5 pm so we decided not to start block laying today, instead we went back to the workshop and made so more tools!

    The old tool for controlling and applying a flat 10 mm thick mortar layer on the vertical ends of the blocks was adjusted to fit the narrower 140 mm wide blocks, instead of the 215 mm blocks it was last used on.

    Finally, we started making another template to control the amount of mortar along the top of the blocks when we are stacking the next layer on. This will create two 30 mm wide grooves to allow for a 15 mm thick load of mortar to be placed on the top surface so when we put the next concrete block on top, it will squash and wiggle down to a more consistent 10 mm thickness.

    Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will definitely start in earnest on actually building a wall!!

  • Final Preparations Towards Building Perimeter Wall

     Today, we finished off the preparation work of moving the remaining 300 concrete blocks, well actually more like 250 blocks as we still got a an untouched palette load of the blocks left after all the locations around the perimeter of the house now have a pile of these 140 mm wide hollow blocks, ready to hand for constructing the 4 layers of the outer wall.

    Perimiter-wall-blocks-piled-up

    Perimiter-wall-blocks-piled-up

    Then we adjusted the “hooks” on the Batter Boards to mark the position of the perimeter wall, which is always located 150 mm from the outer edge of the foundations, putting in two screws to represent our 140 mm wide wall. The original two outer screws that had defined the foundation strips were removed.

    Screws-marking-a-wall-position

    Screws-marking-a-wall-position

    Finally, we built two more “helping hand“ tools, giant right angle L templates to guide and orientate each of the 14 corners so that they are nicely right angles and also vertical too.

    Block-Corner-setting-tools

    Block-Corner-setting-tools

    We will start in Ernest on Monday by building up each corner (each contains a minimum of 14 blocks, in a four tier L shaped pyramid like structure) before we fill in the long straights.

  • Preparing for Building Perimeter Wall

     Today, in glorious summer weather, we went around all the foundations and filled in the gaps and drop-offs around the edges of the foundations to the surrounding soil, so we didn’t “fall” off and twist an ankle or our trolley won’t move as it bogged down in the groove or the uneven surface.

    Then we moved about 450 of the 720 blocks we have ordered, and positioned them spread out along the sides of the foundations strips for the Great Room, Bedroom 1, Bedroom 2 and finally part of Bedroom 3.

    Half-the-blocks-moved-

    Half-the-blocks-moved-

    Tomorrow in the morning before the rain comes in the afternoon, we will finish off along the front of the building and down the garage side of the foundation strips.