Jim thought it was going to be another one of those days the way it started out for him. He was getting a plank from underneath the stairs on the stairwell to use on the scaffolding since we're getting so high. He was wearing his bucket hat which provides good sun protection but causes some loss in his peripheral vision. So he smacked his head on the steel stairs as he was trying to get the plank out. Ouch! Then he was working on marking the rows for the next courses and putting brick ties on - he hit the sharp corner of the overhang and got a nice gash on his arm - double ouch! So he put the red covering just to give him a visual cue. It's tough - he has to be so cognizant of not hitting his head on all the steel overhang pieces while he's working underneath.
But all was well - after lunch and some prep work, it was mortar time.
This was another touchy area - first Jim had to figure out brick placement to make these two sides of the course come together in the middle over the soldiers. Then he had to make it all work out!
First course done over the soldiers...
Another difficult area to attend to - this corner. This is the bond brick to go from the front courses to the side. It was hard to figure out brick size and placement to make everything not only look right but function the right way so that he can carry on in both directions.
Once the corner was done, Jim was able to complete that course.
Then he had to stop and put on more earthquake and brick ties. He broke his last bit for the hammer drill and had to break out his old hammer drill. This is nice to have as a spare, but isn't near as good as his other drill!
End-of-the-day jointing. We got lots accomplished! To the right side of the overhand, we have now started the last course of full bricks! Underneath the overhang, where it will be covered by the soffit, we are going to use blocks to save brick for the house.
We cleaned up, covered all the new brick (there's a possibility of rain tomorrow), and then headed out for a ride in the box truck. This is the first ride this year - Jim just got the plates put on it yesterday. Jim had to do pre-op blood work and an EKG in Saratoga, so we did that and then headed across the street to Lowe's. Jim had called ahead and they had our block and 2 more bags of mortar ready for us on a pallet.
It was a little late when we got home, but it was a good day and we got lots accomplished!
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