As seen in the last two installments, we are dressing the walls as we prepare to apply the surface bonding cement which will provide the structural support and adhesion for the walls. It will also give us an interior/exterior wall finish like white stucco. Applying Portland cement "mud" by hand, we have been trying to close the seams between blocks and cover up some learning curve in the process. Here is the "After" photograph...
....and this would definitely be the "Before" photo, which has a bit of everything we have to contend with. Note some blocks are out of alignment due to irregularities in either the block dimensions or the person laying it (that would be me, folks). The "R" you see marks one of the internal columns of reinforced concrete. Just to the left of the "R" you can see two spots where we cast irregular-sized blocks in place by duct-taping pieces of metal flashing over the wall gaps and filling it in with cement. Baboon-butt ugly, eh?
Here's a good contrast. The wall seams on the left have been "mudded" over, while the seams on the wall to the right haven't. The crescent of blocks you see is a great example of how DIY-friendly dry stack construction is. It wasn't designed in, just a whim when I realized I could lay blocks crossways as well as in-line. I even took apart this section of wall and rebuilt it to accomodate this feature. The crescent on the inside will become lighting sconces, the one on the courtyard wall will hold a cascading water feature.
As mentioned last week, we've borrowed this mud daubing technique from the adobe-building cultures. We used regular masonry mortar mix, which has a large ratio of sand to cement, early on. The lighter-colored caulking is mortar mix. The darker, and far better, patches are straight Portland cement mud mixed to a clay-like consistency. The Portland mud molds better, adheres better to vertical surfaces and is a lot stronger than the mortar mix.
Two things you'll need for this work are petroleum jelly (like Vaseline) and continual oversight by project management. The petroleum jelly is good protection for exposed skin when working with concrete if you want to avoid lime burns. I'm still not sure what project management is good for, but they assure me they're essential.
Want to see a rough floor plan? Want to be notified when we post new pictures? Just e-mail us! Want to see the rest of the story? Click on Gimme Shelter Home Page.
Next installment: The Odyssey of Homer (Simpson) Click HERE

All music and data on this site ©2001 and 2003 TexasMusicForge.com. Any unauthorized usage of music and/or data from this site is strictly prohibited and will get you tied up and dragged behind my horse.
E.M. Kliman, Proprietor.