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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... |
| An entire week of rain and cold weather (our obligatory period of winter weather here) has passed, leaving the water feature that surrounds the house full up after last year's shortage of rainfall. We get a start on Monday morning, ably assisted by project management and a pair of rubber boots - not necessarily in that order. |  |
| Here is a typical DIY scenario - the rains have flooded the courtyard, which could cause the foundation to settle unevenly. The drain, marked by the red arrow, sits below eventual ground level, marked by the blue arrow, but still won't drain this low spot until we fill the courtyard in. We solve the problem by rigging up a temporary sump of concrete blocks and leftover plastic sheeting. By bailing the water with buckets into the sump, we eventually part the waters. Dirty and improvised, somewhat like your humble correspondent, it got the job done... |  |
| An afternoon of backbreaking work and a strained hamstring later, we get busy cladding the courtyard walls, our last step before we get to start on the roofing. We continue the process of covering our dry stack block walls by hand-troweling cement over nylon mesh fabric, a process we call "meshcrete". This process seals and strengthens the walls prior to their being painted with an elastomeric white sealant. |  |
| Even trudging back and forth with a cement bucket, we are still struck by the beauty of what we are building, a good parable for a successful marriage if ever I heard (or invented) one. These leaded glass windows are located in the master bath. |  |
| With the return of spring weather, work proceeds quickly. This photo was taken Thursday afternoon and the section of wall visible behind me is all that remains of the courtyard which needs to be finished before we tackle the roof next week. Meanwhile, I continue to spend my time perched on top of a ladder with a 70 pound bucket of cement. Amazing how much work you can get done despite management supervision some weeks... |  |
| 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: Over The Top Click HERE |
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