T-Brick Shed: Christmas Week

I had a few days off the week of Christmas so I was able to knock out the fourth and fifth course.

About a quarter of the fourth course left to complete

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. 

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.

The fifth course blocks I made yesterday were a little dry.

Took some time out from shed building to help Paul set up a volleyball/badminton net for the Christmas day festivities

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.

Paul tests out the net and celebrates his first amendment right to celebrate pantsless Wednesdays.

Christmas Eve Jean finds herself working on the shed. She doesn’t look very impressed.

Wetting down the walls to keep them from drying out too quickly.

Hand packing the fifth course. The mix is drier so it requires more tamping than the lime courses did.

Decided to start adding some straw to the mix.

Fifth course complete.

Working on the sixth course.

This old concrete mixer has proven extremely useful.