Material Arrives

Even hotter - 88 degrees with almost no chance of raid.

Well, on Friday afternoon I received some of the material from Home Depot.  They were not able to get the concrete block and plywood sheathing on the truck and they sent two of the long 2x6 x 14 foot boards to be used as the sill plate in the wrong material.  It was kiln dried wood and it should have been pressure treated weather resistant material.

 

Dropped down on the grass.  The driver said that his vehicle weighs three tons - I believe him from the look of the grass after driving over it three times.

Pointed Playhouse in kit form.

I had to move all of the material from the street to the brick pad (by hand!)

They did deliver the remaining material on Saturday morning.  The driver did a very nice job setting it neatly in the driveway.  I can't believe how they can make money delivering two separate times with such great service for only $60.

On Sunday and Monday evening I shot the level lines with a laser and began tamping the soil with the added rock to create a level foundation for the concrete block.  As I said before, this is my least favorite part of the project, but it wasn't too bad and I can see relatively rapid progress given the small size of the structure.

Spinning laser.

The laser level setup to give me an accurate right angle.

The perimeter is outlined along with a fairly accurate level line.  I just need to measure down anywhere along the line to get a consistent measurement to the height of a row of block.

I then started to haul the concrete block from the driveway (can't wait to get that all out of there) to the site and began mixing cement and laying the first course of block on the lower elevation of the foundation.  I don't have a way to put down three courses of block around the entire foundation because I ran into large roots from the tall pine tree on the left, which was expected.  I will pack the area around the roots with crushed marble stone to allow the roots to still grow a little without disturbing the foundation (I hope).  The pine tree was a design consideration and I felt that a large tree very close to the Pointed Playhouse would give it character.

You can see one of the four foot re-bar that I put deep into the ground and reinforced with cement in the block to tie the foundation to the earth.  I'm hoping to seek refuge here during the next large hurricane.

The third course was started on Monday evening.  A flash on my iPhone went off to take this image because I was working late.

Note to self - buy more cement...  Chance of rain on Thursday - maybe take a half day off work to get the foundation done before then.