8.3.2016

It was nice to get back to brick work today.  However, it was one of those days where things were just a little on the frustrating side.  No big issues - just lots of little challenges. 

We brought up another cube of bricks!

Time for the first batch...

Jim started in the front with one of the challenging spots - working around the electric box.

And corners are always Jim's least favorite!

But this was a bigger issue - because of the rain we had over the last couple days, there was water in some of holes in the bricks.  When Jim put mortar and the bricks on top, it caused water (now mixed with the dyed mortar) to spill all down the front of the bricks!  There was nothing we could do at the moment but press on and hope that it wasn't going to stain.

 

More bricks and more water down the front...

So...lesson learned.  Jim dropped his air compressor hose out the window and blew air into the holes to blow the water out.    These couple front areas were the only place that water had built up.

Another electric box to brick around...

Then we brought mortar around back to finish off the last row of full bricks back here!



Last full brick!

Working in the front again...

Jointing...

Once we were finished, Jim carefully power sprayed the front - avoiding the top row he just put on.  Thankfully, once it dried it seemed just fine.

After lunch, prep time for the next batch.  Jim made flashing to cover the wires leading to the electric box for the lights.

This channel is bigger - Jim is going to do the flashing in two pieces.

Time to cut more bricks...

...and put more brick ties on.

We're finally ready...batch number 2!

Putting the brick over the flashing...

Working on brick over the electric box and flashing on the other side...

Another challenge...working on this hill.  It makes everything hard - Jim has to work on a slope, in/out of scaffolding.  It's more difficult to get bricks and mortar to him too.

But at the end of the day - all's good!  The back is all finished with full bricks.

And the front is really looking amazing as Jim does the final jointing of the day!

Last clean up...

 

Since the ground was soft from the rain, Jim did a little grading work on the bottom of the upper driveway.

 

High 81/Low 57