This week was one of heavy anticipation. With the East and West walls now at the 16th course, the masons are turning their attention to the North wall. It’s an exciting change because two courses on the East Wall takes about 120 blocks, whereas two courses on the North Wall takes only 24…at least until the 12th course. How much faster this wall might come up?
April 23, 2009
April 17, 2009
Week 67 (Evening-up East and West walls)
Spring is now in full force in North Carolina, with tons of pollen, variable weather, and the glorious colors of flowers and trees and other things in bloom. Indeed, the weather forecast for the week began with a disheartening prediction of three days of thunderstorms. Judging by the violence they did to Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Georgia, which was extraordinary, we could have had a miserable week (not just in terms of lack of construction progress). But, thankfully for us, they spent themselves so heavily on the way here that we were spared the worst.
With the West wall now finished up to the 16th course, attention has moved over to the East Wall, which had been lingering at the 12th course for the longest time (since March 11th, anyway). Here’s a sequence of progress pictures showing the wall rising four courses and matching the height of the West wall:
April 12, 2009
Construction and Deconstruction
While I have been fairly diligent about maintaining my construction blog, I have neglected to blog about much else since January, which could mislead the reader into believing either that nothing else of interest is happening, or, worse, that nothing else has been interesting me, both of which are false. But this past week, two creative works—one a book and the other a CD—were so interesting that I was compelled to respond to both in manifold ways.
Now, for the blog, how to begin?
April 9, 2009
Week 66 (First upper-level RPG blocks)
Last week we predicted a whole lot of grouting, and due to unexpectedly favourable weather, that happened early in the week. This view from the scaffolding shows clearly both the filled 3d matrix bond beam as well as evidence that the entire outer wythe was grouted:
April 4, 2009
Updated draft wiring panels
Here’s my lastest drawings for the wiring panels in the studio, which I just updated today. The panel numbers correspond to a wiring infrastructure diagram that I’ve also updated (mostly).
April 3, 2009
Week 65 (Music Room door frames)
As reported a few weeks ago, various parts of the construction process are starting to interact and interlock with one another. This week the major interaction was between the two wythes of the Western Music Room wall and the door frames therein. The shop diagrams I delivered way back in 2008 showed every block of the inner and outer wythes of every masonry wall, but nowhere did they detail what happened when the two wythes became connected via a door frame. This week the masons improvised a masonry solution. But first things first…the filling of the first bond beams:
