6.20.2016 - First Brick!

Anyone who knows us, knows that we are huge Cleveland sports fans.  92.3 The Fan sports radio streams non-stop while we are working at the house and we have NBA League Pass so that we can watch all of the Cavs games.  And what a season it was!  After a championship drought of 52 years, LeBron James and the Cavs brought home the NBA Championship to Cleveland!  Plus they made history - the only team to ever win the Finals after being down 3-1!  I screamed so loud when they won last night that Jim had to remind me we were in an apartment building!  At lunch, we had sports radio playing while we were watching the live stream of the team arriving back in Cleveland.  Yay Cavs!

Here's a picture of the lights that Jim got up yesterday afternoon.  He had to make small mounting plates with conduit clamps because the conduit was going over a long distance and would sag in the middle.

We got a phone call this morning that Lowe's would deliver our dishwasher this morning - then they called and said they'd be early.  Jim had to move some dirt piles on the driveway so they could pull up, but he was all ready when they arrived.

They also brought another window that they had to reorder for us.

Bringing in the dishwasher...

Going up the stairs... 

I'm not a huge dishwasher person but they're nice to have for company or holidays.  It looks like a pretty one!

Jim spent the rest of the morning getting ready for brick.  He made a story board to use to make sure each of the courses is in the right place.  He has a ruler for this purpose but we are using oversize bricks (4") and it doesn't work for that size.

Jim had made a computer drawing showing the exact placement for each brick!  This way, he knows exactly how the corners need to be, how the steps will work out, and what cuts he needs to make.  Amazing.

He moved one of the cubes of brick over to the saw area and started cutting a few of the different sizes he knows he'll need.

Laying out the first few courses to make sure everything works!

We are making colored mortar - hopefully it will match the color of the brick - so Jim adds the bag of color in with the mix.

Pouring out the first batch...

Moving it closer to the building...

Time to start!

Putting down the first brick...

Jim is putting weep holes in certain locations on the bottom course - just in case water would get behind the brick, it would have an exit route.

Making sure everything is level - first course is always so tough! 

This amazes me - way back before we were first building the insulated concrete forms, Jim had to know exactly how the brick would integrate into the design.  You can see that the top of the first course ends exactly at the point of the next step.

Jointing the mortar joints...

Brick ties get attached to this next course...

Working over the step...

 

Continuing around the corner...

All done on this section for the day - so Jim is doing the final jointing.

A great start!  So exciting to see brick on the carriage house!

Jim saved some mortar to finish the last course of the knee wall for the stair landing.  This course will have the darker mortar, but the wall will eventually be painted so it doesn't matter.

Last block!

Always a lot of clean up...

We haven't had rain in quite awhile - but just in case, Jim wanted to cover the brick.

 

High 88/Low 65