8.24.2016

Jim finally felt a little better today but he still took it easy, especially in the morning.  He did some more work on machinery, including the lawn mower.

He got the other garage door lintel painted...

These are all the stubby bricks that we should need for the side wall...Jim loaded them onto a pallet and took them up.

Then I cut membrane and brick flashing....

 

...and Jim started applying.

 

Putting on little strips of brick flashing just to make sure no water can get into the block.

Jim was still feeling good early in the afternoon, so we decided to go ahead and try a batch of mortar.

First area we did was the last two stubby block in this row until we can work over the lintel area.

Poor Jim continues to smack his head since he has to work inside the overhang area!  But he got the 2 blocks in place.



Next, Jim wanted to set the lintel.  This requires putting some mortar underneath the lintel where it sits on the brick.

Not the easiest task - he has to lift the lintel, get mortar underneath and make sure everything will line up with the bolts and then repeat on the other side!  But he got it done and is pushing the lintel onto the bolts.

Fastening the lintel down...

 

Then Jim brought the mortar box up the hill so that we could start working on the side wall.

This seems like this would be an easy side but it presented a lot of challenges.  It is just one row of stubby bricks so it's a tight fit to begin with.  Plus, there is no bottom course of bricks to help line everything up.  So we ran a string between the two ends, but then it was hard to get the mortar and bricks in - I ended up holding it out of the way when he was placing.

Of course, now Jim has to sit on the ground and try to get everything in place.

Last brick - everything fit perfectly!

Jointing...



Onto the next challenge...using the mortar bag.  Jim needs to get mortar on top of the last row of bricks, just to help keep bugs out and seal everything.  None of this will show - the siding will lap over the top, but it's important to do.  However - it wasn't real easy!  We added a little water to the remaining mortar so that it squeeze out.  This is similar to cake decorating using a pastry bag - without the added benefit of being able to lick your fingers!  And then it's stiff mortar too instead of fluffy frosting.

 

Jim practically has to lay on his back to work in this area!  But we developed a better system as we went along - I filled up the bucket with mortar and then put scoops into the mortar bag so Jim could just keep squeezing.  Definitely tough on the hands too - Jim joked that his hands weren't going to work tonight and I may have to feed him!  (Hmm....at least I think he was joking!)

We had enough mortar to finish the corner and the side wall - a good start!

Cleaning up...

We wanted to get a little start on flashing the lintel - enough for Jim to be able to take some pictures into the building inspector to see if he needs to come out and inspect before we can continue bricking.  So first Jim put up the aluminum flashing pieces.

Then he marked his reference lines...

Then he started putting brick flashing on.

We are so grateful that Jim is feeling better today - still not 100% but definitely an improvement.  Plus, it was good to be able to get back to some brick work.

 

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