Fortress Update

Great progress again today, and a big milestone reached: the block walls are finished! Davy (the mason) and Alfredo started early this morning, just before 6:00 am – Davy wanted to take advantage of the cool morning air, and he certainly did that. But just a few hours later – by 11:00 am – I discovered that they had finished the wall and were cleaning up the work site.

Which leads to the not-so-good news: there was nothing more that Davy could do, because Ruben (my contractor) had not delivered the additional materials need (lumber for the forms and rebar for reinforcing the roof). I've been in contact with Ruben, and he swears he's trying to get it delivered today by borrowing a big truck (the lumber is 16' long and the rebar is 20' long – way too big for a pickup truck). If he fails, then it will be a couple of days or more for the supplier to get it out here, which means a delay. Damn! I'm not in a frame of mind to readily accept delays – the darned thing is finally underway, and I want it finished! No excuses!!!

Today was Alfredo's last day on the job, as tomorrow his school year begins. I'll miss his smiles, and his adult-level work ethic. Of the boys that I've met, he seems most like his father in his behavior (though certainly not in appearance)…

While talking with Davy today, I discovered that my estimates for the rebar were badly understated. I forgot to account for the ‘L’ shaped pieces needed to tie the vertical rebar pieces to the horizontal pieces on the roof, and there will be a lot of those – it adds up. Also, I forgot about overlaps (some of which are spec'd at 4 feet) and some other stuff. All in all, I underestimated by about 15%.

But that's better than Ruben did on the blocks. With the walls completely finished, we still have about 300 blocks left! I'm not quite sure how he managed to be off by that amount.

Oh, well. Blocks are a handy thing to have around the place. I'm sure there's something else we can use them for, one of these fine days…