Finally, An Update

Since my last update, the weather has been uncooperative to say the least. We’ve had rain, we’ve had snow, we’ve had cold winds, and then more and more of the same. Oh, I must have forgot, it’s winter. Did I really “expect” to get anything done. I guess I got spoiled in December and January with so many nice work days.

The north wall is now almost complete. Pic 1 shows the north wall, the tornado shelter and about half the front porch block framing. Inside the front porch you can see the beginnings of a rubble pile. After all the porch walls are built and then infilled with concrete rubble and dirt I will pour the porch slab on top. I have a lot of extra dirt around the project (leftover from digging). Well, now I have a place for it. However, before I do that I will probably remove the blocks highlighted in yellow so I can still have access to the building site from the front. After the rest of the bond beam is cemented in place I will then replace the block and finish off the porch.

Pic 2 is a view of the northwest corner from the basement. The four lonely block sitting on top of the wall just represent the bond beam height and were used to measure how close my elevations are to planned. In most areas I’m within 1/8 inch of desired elevation, not bad for a beginner. Where I’m too low, I’ll place a little mortar under the bond beam block to raise them, where I’m a little too high, well let’s just say the diamond saw blade will get a little more use.
Pic 3 is a view from the northwest corner looking across the project showing all the walls built so far.