Category: construction photos

The past three weeks [1] [2] [3] have all been preparation for the events of today: the grouting of the North bond beam.  Here is the wall, shrouded to protect the finished blocks from any spills:

But wait!  There’s more…

Continue reading “Week 71 (Bond and steel beam updates)”

The weather forecast for this week was again anticipated to be terrible, but in the end things shaped up nicely, with only Monday lost due to rain.  The major objectives of the week were met: the establishment of the North bond beam and the placement of the massive (1100 lb/500 kg) South steel beam.  Read on to see how it’s all taking shape…

Continue reading “Week 71 (Major beams, North and South)”

The star of this week’s show is the North bond beam.  Last week the framing went up to support the bond beam, and this week the blocks started going up.  First things first: the blocks are graded and the ones that make the grade are placed into position:

There are actually a lot more than that…

Continue reading “Week 70 (North bond beam progress)”

Despite all the attention to the North wall last week, the South wall has been going up as well.  This wall is complicated because it contains the main control room window, with a 8′ clear opening into the Control Room and  14’8″ clear opening into the Music Room.  Here you can see the start of the angled blocks:

The grout making up the shear wall is now up to the 5th course (and wet when this photo was taken last week):

Continue reading “Week 70 (Building up the South Wall)”

The weather was quite cooperative this week, and so we were able to work at full speed!  The primary objective: preparing to establish the massive bond beam across the North wall of the Music Room.  Our starting point is this:

 

The columns are already fully grouted, but the shear wall is still only half-grouted.  That will be remedied by the time the bond beam is poured.

Continue reading “Week 69 (Framing the North wall bond beam)”

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?

Continue reading “Week 68 (Raising the North Wall)”

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:

Continue reading “Week 67 (Evening-up East and West walls)”

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:

Continue reading “Week 66 (First upper-level RPG blocks)”

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:

Continue reading “Week 65 (Music Room door frames)”

Yesterday the first bond beam was established across the outer wythe of the Music Room doors.

Continue reading “Week 64 (First bond beams)”