Three years of hard work and planning begins to look like a house. We're shoulder high on sections of the wall and laying in the sash blocks for the doors and windows. The blocks standing on end along the further wall will support the windows. The four doorways leading into the central courtyard can all be seen. The beginnings of our entryway can be seen on the left.
Tropical Storm Fay drenches the house site and our lucky owner/builders as it moves ashore from the Gulf of Mexico. The rain makes pouring concrete impossible, so we settle for straightening out the wall blocks with a deadblow hammer. Just another day at the Garage Mahal...
The project supervisors do whatever it is that management does in between rain showers. Notice the rebar sticking up from the blocks for the doorway into the courtyard in the foreground. These mark stacks of block where concrete has been poured into the blocks' central cavities. The concrete and rebar columns will lend strength and stability on each side of door and window apertures.
The walls start going up. Notice the different size blocks used. The blocks standing on end are sash blocks which will support the frames (or "bucks") for the windows.
We end this page, as we began, with Melinda putting in some sweat equity. We now have to position the windows in order to line up supporting blocks as we continue building walls. The lights in the picture allow us to work after sunset when the temperature cools off to merely furnace-like.
Next: Windows, walls, weather, worry and work. Click here.

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