I had a few days off the week of Christmas so I was able to knock out the fourth and fifth course.
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| About a quarter of the fourth course left to complete |
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| Another issue I’m having with deadmen besides some cracking is that the deadmen cause the forms to stick. Here’s one I flipped over. I think the moisture causes the wood to swell. The deadmen are approximately 11 inches long. The forms are 12 inches. I could probably make the deadmen an inch or two shorter and still be effective. |
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| Fourth course completed and some of the fifth and sixth as well. The fourth course was the last full course using lime. I’ll now only use lime around the windows. |
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| The fifth course blocks I made yesterday were a little dry. |
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| Took some time out from shed building to help Paul set up a volleyball/badminton net for the Christmas day festivities |
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| The poles were a little flimsy. Luckily, our parent’s house is abundant with useful odds and ends. We found couple of metal poles for reinforcement. |
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| Paul tests out the net and celebrates his first amendment right to celebrate pantsless Wednesdays. |
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| Christmas Eve Jean finds herself working on the shed. She doesn’t look very impressed. |
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| Wetting down the walls to keep them from drying out too quickly. |
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| Hand packing the fifth course. The mix is drier so it requires more tamping than the lime courses did. |
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| Decided to start adding some straw to the mix. |
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| Fifth course complete. |
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| Working on the sixth course. |
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| This old concrete mixer has proven extremely useful. |
Lets hope the straw in the bricks adds some binding. Deadmen often swell up when left in the wet (see any CSI & NCIS episodes). Rose already knows what happens after wall ties between walls, corrodes and expand!