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Post date: Jun 28, 2017 11:11:14 PM
In the first photo you see the concrete block first course with brown mud on it and two adobes at the left. The “mud” is actually crusher fines with considerable clay. Crusher fines are the screenings after crushing stone and saving the coarser material — the fines remain.
The mud is troweled onto each lower course of bricks, then the adobes are laid into it and pressed down until the top of the adobe aligns with the bright orange string barely visible in the picture.
We have used crusher fines at Valverde Commons to form our foot paths around the central meadow. They pack nicely and are not dusty. When the crushed stone contains clay or when clay is mixed with the fines they set up hard after being mixed with water. (Not so hard as concrete, but good enough for this purpose, and cheaper.)
You may also notice a wooden block standing on end in the foreground. That block will be used instead of an adobe wherever an electric box is needed because the electric box can be screwed firmly to the wood. The weight of the adobes on top of the wood will keep it firmly in place after the wall is complete.
In the second picture a wood block is clearly visible on the left with the orange-pink string in front of it, showing that the interior side of the block is recessed into the wall, leaving room for the electric junction box.
In the first photo you can see the diagonal brace that keeps the corner buck vertical during construction. These corner bucks will be removed after the wall is complete. You can also see the pallet of adobes behind the worker on the right, with the bucket loader behind that. The bucket contains the hand-mixed mud that is used as mortar between the adobes.
Corner Buck
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