katie the mason

the past two days katie & i have been working together laying foundation block. she's managing the mortar and moving block while i'm with the trowel, buttering blocks. she's been whipping up great quality mortar, i wish i had her every day.

i'm starting to get a little faster at laying up block. some key details were to slap the head joint mortar on the other side after initially buttering it, to keep it stuck on the block while setting it. also, keeping an eye on the size of the adjacent block's bed joint to judge how much mortar to toss down for the current block. also, laying the block carefully to get it close to final position with minimal movement. also, maintaining pressure against the head joint while adjusting the block to keep that joint together. mm yeah.

so far, almost the entire initial course has been laid. next up, the corners will be built. i have to do these with care to ensure the top courses are perfectly level with each other.

we're getting a ton of rain currently so i might need to hold off a few days before getting on with it. initially, i just wanted the block to be done with so i can get to the framing.. but it's actually starting to grow on me now.

block

the block and mortar was delivered monday morning. it's wednesday afternoon, and so far i've laid about 1/3rd of the first of 6 courses. at this rate, i'll have all the block laid in 3 weeks lol. ugh.

the pace is ridiculously slow, so slow it's discouraging in itself. but worse than the pace, is the quality of my work. laying block is fucking hard.

i've been telling myself that i've got a good mortar mix going now, but i'm really not sure. i rarely get it to stick on head joints for long. is this my trowel technique, my laying technique, the mix, or all of the above? i don't know. that's what sux. it'd be much easier to learn from an experienced mason.

this is most frustrating because i have little faith in the strength of the blocks i've laid thus far. most of the head joints are void of mortar after the block is set, and i'm just stuffing in some mortar in the gap. which is like, teh suck.

hopefully i get this worked out with more experience. i've been watching the few block laying videos i've found on the net, but well, there's not much detail in youtube videos so it's basically just offering me examples of basic motions and what not. which is helpful, but i'm still not sure about the details with the mortar..

meh, my hands are gettin scuffed up pretty bad.

dirt

got out to the lot this morning with the intention of marking the block corners on the footing. however, everything was still a bit wet. so i decided to do a little digging while the ground is soft.

there were still a few sections of forms that i never got up. i dug out along the base of each piece and pried like crazy with the crow bar and various pieces of lumber until they were all up.

i then proceeded to backfill around the interior side of the perimeter footing and around the pier footings. it needs to be done sooner or later, and with them backfilled and sloped, rainwater won't pool around the footings. however, the exterior side of the perimeter footings remain exposed until the drain pipe is laid.

i was drenched in sweat and mud when i got home ;) time to relax.

ordered block

concrete block & mortar ordered, will arrive monday. it is currently pouring outside. we've been smacked with torrential rains the past two days. wonderful. last thing i want is the exposed footers being eroded and settled.

i've been going over what i'll be doing, but.. well, i've never laid block. so this will be interesting.