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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... |
| We begin active preparations for applying the surface bonding cement to the walls with some time-consuming research. Different cementitious mixes, procedures and materials must be studied, vendors must be identified, costing and logistics have to be studied for their "real world" impact on the project, etc. Here, we see a sample of nylon fibers which are added to the surface bonding cement for reinforcement. |  |
| Here is a closer look at the nylon fiber we will be using. Our research shows we can mix our own bonding cement using bulk materials and save well over $1,000 compared to use of bagged products such as Quikwall. The nylon fibers, which also prevent cracking of the cement during the curing process, are added to the rest of the materials while in the mixer drum. |  |
| The painstaking work of "mudding" the seams between the blocks in the walls is finally finished as we complete the final section of wall space in the courtyard this week. Notice how much smoother the courtyard walls appear compared with earlier photos in this series. Potential air leaks and insect pathways are plugged and cosmetic imperfections are successfully concealed. |  |
| One reason the mud work has progressed so slowly is the maddening tendency of the lime in cement to burn exposed flesh. I have healing burns like this up both arms and some body parts I'd rather not describe due to contact with wet cement. You can see where the top of the rubber gloves ends in this photo. This definitely falls under the advisory of "Don't try this at home, kids..." |  |
| We get around further aggravation of the problem pictured above by cutting the ends out of some tube socks to use as arm sleeves and the purchase of more heavy duty rubber gloves. Since we sat down to take this photo, management assumed a meeting was in progress and felt their input was needed. We reach a unanimous decision to break for lunch. |  |
| 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. |
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| Next installment: Workin' the Augean Stables Click HERE |
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