All Blocks Down

Today we laid the remaining 500 concrete blocks. It took three shipments to get them all to the site: the first time we bought out the local supplier, the second time they mis-understood how many we needed, and the third time Eli went in his pickup and got them from a different supplier.Jake, Nicanor, and I laid the first batch, while Eli was fetching his pickup from the repair shop and the loader key from his home and the air compressor to fill the tire on the loader.

Then we got another shipment, and Eli, Jake, and Nicanor laid the rest of the block, with me filling in occasionally, and sort-of supervising. I probably only laid 70 blocks today, 20 yesterday, and maybe 100 Friday. But they are now all in place - except two where the plumber has to work (before we can pour concrete).

There are also air ducts on the north and south perimeters of the slab (you can see these toward the left of the photo), and they have to be covered with OSB (Oriented Strand Board - the successor to plywood) so the concrete covers them but does not fill them when we pour the slab. These covers attach to small ledger boards that are screwed to the stem wall forms.

Then there are air baffles that are strips of 3/8” plywood with 2 3/4” holes drilled for each north-south duct. These baffles ensure that the airflow is evenly distributed across the entire floor and not just closest to the floor registers.

Running north-south (in addition to the holes in the concrete blocks) are beams under the supporting walls. These beams will be cast of concrete when we pour the foundations and the slabs. Where the beams intersect the air ducts we have to add a wooden form so the concrete doesn’t fill the air duct when we pour the beams. Lots of little pieces all have to be in the right place and firmly attached so the wet concrete doesn’t push them aside.

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After supper I took a 5-gallon bucket and watered the tree and shrub seedlings that we planted last Thursday, then used a string trimmer to try to eradicate the Russian Thistle that is trying to take over the yard around my rental house.

Oh, and Jason Padilla, the glass man, came by to measure for a glass shower door. I had met him at the Wool Festival last Autumn, where he displayed some amazing leaded glass art work.

Also saw (and identified) my first Black-headed Grosbeak this evening, among the more common Evening Grosbeaks and a lot of female House Finches eating the sunflower seed my neighbor puts out for them.

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