Another Brick in the Wall

Masons are on site, working alone now that the plumbing is complete. They are building up to a 28 foot height by adding 13 feet to the existing structure. Each row of cinder blocks (concrete masonry units, CMU) creates a "course". It takes 6 courses to make a "lift" of the 8 inch CMUs, in this case, it rises about 4 feet. They can do one "lift" a day, then they need to fill it with grout, or mortar. We had to block off the sidewalk today so we didn't knock CMUs, or mortar, onto the sidewalk, so we are definitely making our presence known. 

We can see the new wall peeking out from behind the existing wall. This has about 13 feet to go.  

North and East wall to be completed on Friday, 8/4. 

Making the mortar on site.  

Brick saw. Terrifying.  

This is one of my favorite machines we've had in the building. It's massive. It brings the CMUs and tubs of mortars up to the scaffolding.  

Much more coming in the next few days regarding the walls. I'll post more under here as we climb up to our second floor.