Despite the onset of winter weather, work on the Red House construction site continues, and progress can be seen in several areas. The domain we have most control over is the salvage and cleaning of old bricks, a project we took on because of their beauty and individuality. We couldn’t just let three piers of 200-year-old handmade bricks go to waste. So before the excavators came to dismantle and fill in the old cellar hole, we got to work. Working with a mallet, hammers and scrapers, we knocked down the piers, tossed aside broken or crumbling bricks, and cleaned off the sticky clay mortar from those that were still whole. These we found mostly in the pier’s interior courses, where they had been protected from water and fluctuating temperatures.
Together we salvaged 680 bricks, matching the number our mason extracted before we got involved, for a total of 1360, more than enough to cover one of our new basement walls, but we decided we want two walls covered. The pressure was on last week when an excavator was delivered to the site on Sunday. How could we finish our mission to salvage an additional 330 bricks before an excavator was swinging over our heads? No worries. Joe the skilled operator had the solution. He used his grapple to pick up the piers (which were helpfully frozen solid) and lifted them aside. His assistant, Clint, moved them by forklift to a new workstation. Problem solved.
With all the rain we had yesterday, the mortar was super sticky, making for muddy work, but will a little elbow grease, and two of us working, we made our quota today!
Nils at work cleaning bricks, his boots caked with the sticky clay mortar.
Clint also used a forklift to move our two pallets of clean bricks to the Red House.
Meanwhile, in the new basement, the masons were at work building the third and last concrete block pier and meeting the top of the first two piers to the bottom of the chimney stack – a very precise and delicate job.
The masons worked on Monday during a massive rainstorm with high winds that caused power outages in Sweden and throughout the region. They were dry and warm, operating indoors with heat and light provided by a generator. The heat is especially important for the mortar to dry properly.
What really surprised us was that Joe also showed up for work and operated his heavy equipment, plucking granite slabs, flagstones and fieldstone rubble from the old cellar. We captured him at work on less inclement days. Here he is using a grapple to life flagstones onto a stack.
And here’s time lapse video of Joe and Clint at work.
Clint and his forklift were busy for days, moving the rocks into piles, sorted by size and shape.
After all the bricks and granite were removed, they filled the cellar hole.
Now the only evidence that there once was a house on this site is the fieldstone wall that lines the road. An amazing transformation!
One response to “Post 26: Bricks, Blocks & Rocks”
This is a fascinating project to vicariously view. Thank you for all the blog entries and photography. In the future, when I enjoy fires in your fireplace I will better appreciate all the craftsmanship and work that went into it!