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Our Seventh Week of Wall Building The Project: A 2,163 square foot house utilizing dry stack concrete block construction with a central courtyard and based on the Spanish colonial-era missions in San Antonio. The Challenge: Can a forty-something married couple design and build an attractive, efficient and mostly paid-for house while remaining sane, solvent and married? With no actual prior construction experience? Hmmmmm - let's check in on our Contestants and see how they're doing... |
| This week I have been raising the courtyard walls to the 15th course (just below the ceiling level). The most crucial part of all this frivolity has been setting and pouring the lintel beams over doors and windows. Here, you can see how I've set up 2x4 lumber between standard quarter blocks turned on their sides. The lintel beam blocks will sit atop the 2x4s. At lower right is the inside portion of the blocks turned sideways to create our "falling waters" in the courtyard. These inner halves of the blocks will have lighting installed in them. You've gotta love a building system that is as user-friendly and versatile as dry stacking blocks. |  |
| Once the lintel blocks are placed, I cut a piece of 3/8" rebar to length and place it in the lintel blocks. It is resting on a couple of lengths of the strapping metal I use to make shims with (used to level blocks). This keeps the rebar from sinking to the bottom of the concrete we're about to pour in here. |  |
| Four buckets of readymix and some assorted huffing and puffing later, we are filled with concrete. Resting on the concrete blocks on each side of the window, this will cure into a solid beam of reinforced concrete and distribute pressure from the weight of wall and roofing above it. |  |
| For stove and dryer vents, we are turning these half blocks on their sides. I didn't realize this until just recently, but we could have used these guys for mounting switches and plugs directly into the walls by filling them halfway with concrete, letting that cure and then turning the blocks on their sides and mounting the switches or plugs in (the wiring would come in through a hole drilled in the side/top). If I only knew back then what I know now... |  |
| Besides lintel beams, our other constant this week has been rain. From atop a ladder, I (we) can see the driveway across the rain-filled moat which surrounds the house on 3 sides. The rain has brought out lots of lizards and other assorted fauna. I spotted a panther (!) this week during broad daylight. The coyotes have also gotten more active with the rain, cooler temperatures and the almost-full moon. Personally, I'll take the 4 legged predators over the 2 legged kind in the city any day of the week. |  |
| Want to see the floor plan? Want to e-mail us? | |
| Next week's installment: No Walls Of Jericho Here Click HERE |
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