Time to Learn About Block...

It's almost time to start laying the block - The very first block will be laid this Sunday 07/19/09. Some of you may be wondering, "what's the hold up?” “Why such a long hiatus between the footings and the block stacking?"- well...the truth of the matter is that my car needed to undergo a very major and very expensive surgery and well...you guessed it..."Our Wayne" is not only a master builder, but also a master mechanic and a master magician. He was able to take my $600.00 repair job and magically turn it into an $80.00 job with the only stipulation being that we use some blog cabin hours and put it toward my much needed car operation. So, without any hesitation on my end, that is just what we did and this past Sunday we fixed up my Jeep and it's as good as new! I have brakes again! Brakes are apparently a very important part of driving...well, maybe not so much for driving, but very important for "stopping" the driving;) Now that my car is all better the blog cabin is up and running again! So, I say...ladies and gentlemen...back to the block! (cute car repair pictures to be posted at a later date.)Ok - so, the concrete footings have been poured and are now set. The next step is to remove the wooden forms we built and start laying the block on top of our beautiful new footings. Before we get into the actual "laying of the block" we should have a quick overview on block terminology and block laying technique. For starters, we will be using two types of block. The first type is "Stretcher block" Please refer to the chart above. Stretcher block is what will make up the body (inner portion) of our foundation. We will be using 16" Stretcher block and for those of you who are like me and are looking at the chart thinking..."hmmm...is that the block with the 3 holes or the 2 holes"...I asked and I was informed we are using the 2 holed Stretcher block....hmmmm...on second thought...now that I think of it, I am not 100% sure if 16" is correct as I was eating a whatchamachallit while it was being explained to me and 16 may have been the number of fat grams my chocolate bar had in it
:( but 16" sounds right for cinder block too...hmmmm...I dunno, but for now lets just call it 16" cinder block:) The stretcher block will be laid out in a staggered pattern (much like bricks only larger) as this creates the strength in a foundation. The blocks will be bonded together with 1/2" of concrete mixed by yours truly:) When we get to the corners we will need to use our second type of block..."Half Corner block" Half Corner block will be used...yep...you guessed it, on all the corners. Half Corner block is flush on one side to create a nice sharp corner for when our foundation wraps around our blog cabin.So, now that you are all briefed on the "how to" and terminology of laying block we are ready to get to it.
Stay tuned!-J