Day 7 - Finished the Fox Blocks!

We knew the rain was going to be with us for the majority of the day but we worked anyway.  It was a rubber-boots-and-toques kind of a day but when you are building your own house, who cares?  :)  Jay and the guys set up the support system for the Fox Blocks so that when I arrived around 11am, the scaffolding was up and they were working on the last couple of rows of blocks.  I jumped in to help and got to work cutting and placing blocks, just like we did last week.  Only this time we were working on the scaffolding instead of on the ground or on ladders.

Since we had to close up the wall we had kept open until now, Mr. W cut out one of the window openings and made a ramp to the dirt bank on the other side so we had some way of getting into these 9'4" walls.  The rest of the windows will be cut out tomorrow and the window bucks will be made.

Somehow, I ended up placing the very last Fox Block!

After all the blocks were placed and the final row of rebar was set, Jay went around the whole wall and added the vertical rebar every 16" or so.  Up until now we had been placing the rebar horizontally in every row of blocks but you must also have rebar running up and down the wall so Jay placed all those in the right spots.

With all the rain, everything was covered in mud, especially the kids!  However, the guys discovered that the cardboard used to package the Fox Blocks makes great mud-covering material!

Once again, it wasn't a very physically intense day but with the cold and the rain, it sure tires you out.  Then, finally, in the late afternoon, the sun shone and it was glorious.  At the end of the day, I could echo the words Pepe said as we were finishing up, "I cannot believe I get to live in this house!"

If you hover your mouse over this last image you will see how the wall has grown over the last 4 days!