Week 73 (Lower South Diffusion Pattern)

In construction photos by Michael Tiemann

Because of the Memorial Day holiday, work did not begin this week until Tuesday.  And it started with a burst of progress: 112 blocks were laid on Tuesday, dramatically changing the view as one approaches the site:

southwall112newblocks.jpg

Moreover, several of the blocks needed complex cuts to finish off the shear wall.  Here’s the view from the other side:

shearwallcutoutsdetail.jpg

The fact that the shear wall stops at 10′-8″ means that progress will further accelerate because we’ll need to make fewer cuts on the way up, and we’ll need less grout, which is also time-consuming to the process.  Here’s the full view of the back side:

shearwallcutouts.jpg

A big bite out of the mortar pile is evident:

mortarsand.jpg

Less evident, but equally real, are the nibbles we are taking from the steel pile:

steelpile.jpg

Step by step, the pattern begins to emerge:

glowingpattern.jpg

Meanwhile, the grouting of the East Wall takes its bite out of the ground sand and gravel:

groutpile.jpg

A bunch of steel dowels are made for the RPG blocks:

steeldowels.jpg

And more blocks make more of the pattern:

southwallrpgcourse17.jpg

And that’s where we ended, letting the mortar cure for a grouting next week.  Hopefully we’ll have continued good weather and thus lots to report in our next update.