Bricks and Mortar

Today's entry is short, but solid.  We're going to quickly get down to the real bricks and mortar.  Literally.

The most exciting thing in this past week has undoubtedly been the work of the bricklayers from Harlan Brick (followed by putting in more windows as a close second).  The bricklayers are surprisingly fast and we really appreciate them working during the hottest days we've had around here.  They got a couple of reprieves from rainstorms, but that also made it too dangerous to work on metal scaffolding, so they didn't during the storms.  Rain also made everything icky.  I'm afraid the soil surrounding the house is a disaster, so I'm getting advice from a lot of horticulture people on how to best deal with rejuvenating the soil structure after the big machines are gone.

Here are a few pictures to illustrate why we are so excited.  The pictures are of the south side which took only 2 days to complete.  They are now finished with the west and north sides as well.  The only remaining side is the front which should be finished early next week.

Installation of the scaffolding.  The green boards behind the scaffolding are another layer of insulation which has all of its seams sealed with tape.  From the brick inward we have a small air space, then the green panels seen here, then the green Zip system sheathing boards attached to the stud walls, then 2" of bio-based spray foam insulation, then 4" of blown-in cellulose insulation.  The walls will have at least an R-35 rating.

About half of the brick up on the south side.  This happened in 1 day.

The south side is completely bricked in this picture.

A view of the south side after the scaffolding was removed.  The small windows in the upper left corner are part of a 4-season room.  Wood siding will be put on around those windows.

Close-up view of the brick and mortar we used.  The brick is made to look old (on purpose!).  We didn't want the house to look neat and perfect, we thought it would be better to have it look like it has been here for 100 years.  The mortar color was chosen to match the trim around the windows and doors.

This is a detailed view of the brick pattern just under the parapet wall (see the upper right of the second photo up).  Jason the builder surprised us with this pattern.  It's the Roman numerals IX and I, in other words, 9-1.  This is the date we count as our anniversary, 25 years ago.  How's that for an anniversary present?

Thank you Jason, we'll contact you in another 25 years to build us a golden anniversary house.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel