Monday, June 23, 2008

June 23 Update







The top picture here is of the pump controller and tank. I haven't taken the time to understand why, but the constant pressure pumps use a very small tank. Anyway, I'm glad to report we got our first water from the system a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, what worked in the morning that day, stopped working in the afternoon, and we don't know why. Tom Ondulich, our electrician, plans to check it out again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile more progress can be seen on the CEB walls, though the day was shortened somewhat by the threat of thunderstorms. Lydia thinks our house looks like a castle - moat and all. She's really quite correct, but I hope that overall look changes dramatically in a couple of weeks. The second picture above shows a view along the east facing wall with blocks removed to redo the garage window openings to the correct size. While no one likes mistakes, the fact that the CEBs are dry stacked gives you the chance to rework errors a lot easier than if mortar was involved.

The third shot down gives the view towards the northwest. You can see the crew has begun placing the wood frames that will help to hold the concrete forms for pouring the reinforcing concrete columns and bond beam across the top. The fourth shot down shows the view looking east with Mike's bedroom window on the left, Lydia's on the right, and their bathroom window in between. Next to the wall, happy as clams in the surf, are a stack of earth blocks. The gentle rain moistens them nicely, helping them cure and come to full strength. The rain, while a trouble on one hand, is compensating for our non-working-at-present pump. Lord, You know all. Watch over our house to make it strong and serviceable. Bless those working on it. Give them wisdom, strength and success. Help us to be in by the end of the year. Amen.

1 comment:

flybymike said...

Kevin, it was great meeting you on 6/21 at your site. Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience with me. I set up a blog for my new house project. It's at http://fallschurcherdhaus.blogspot.com/.

--Mike