Week 75 (The 24th Course)

This week was a major consolidation week, bringing the South and West walls all the way up to the 24th course (16′ above slab level).  The East wall, which used to be our tallest wall, lags two courses below that, and our North Wall lags another two courses lower still.  Here was our condition at the start of the week, with the West wall growing up from the 16th course:

And another perspective, from ground level.  Note the two masons on the right holding a tape measure between them.  Every block is measured in:

And despite the painstaking work, by lunchtime, four courses are up on the South Wall, reaching the 24th course.  Amazing!

Because we lay in ladder wire to span the cavity every two courses, and because the masons laid up four courses in one go, the masons needed to support the ladder wire until the inner wythe could contain it, hence the momentary appearance of vertical blocks:

Studio designer Wes Lachot makes a cameo appearance as the ladder wire is given a proper burial into the inner wythe:

Note above the use of our hand-cranked pallet lift.  From here on up, it’s just too much to “throw” the blocks up.  Speaking of “up” (which was a great movie by the way), we’ve just about reached the limit of our scaffolding this week, so a new batch was ordered—enough to get us up to 24′:

More evidence that blocks are going up:

Yesterday the West wall reached the 22nd course:

And today you can see that the outer wythe has reached the 24th course, behind the 23-course-high inner wythe:

Look closely and you’ll see that the upper diffusion pattern is starting on that 23rd course:

And here you can see a nice little touch…an “echo” of the diffusion pattern expressed on the outer wythe:

We’re really digging into the blocks now:

Even the mortar sand pile is getting smaller:

Yow!  That’s enough of a report for me.  But stay tuned for some very exciting new developements…I promise!