Brick by Brick

I love to watch those shows on Discovery where they try to figure out the mysteries of ancient building techniques.   How long did it take the ancient Egyptians to lay the bricks of the great pyramids?  Experts say, on average, it took 30 years with an estimated cost of 1.3 billion in today's dollars. And that was with thousands of slaves (Even then they tried to cut labor costs). There are no written or drawn documents to tell us how they did it.

The experts speculate that the Mayans managed to build their pyramids in 14 to 20 years at an estimated cost of 600 million. (no gold leaf siding)  But still are not sure of exactly how they were built with out modern machines.

Many of the cathedrals of Europe took generations of masons to complete.  This was when the church owned many of the treasures of Europe and had money to burn.  We have glimpses into how they completed them.  However in order to keep some job security, the masons created a fraternal order and vowed secrecy.  Unless you went through an elaborate initiation and learned the secret hand shake.

The Chinese took over a thousand years to complete the Great Wall of China. So long that by the time the last section was completed the first was a crumbing ruin.  That's perseverance for you.  Cost?  No one can even guess.  How???? Who knows.

My brick foundation wall?  Three months, by myself, brick by brick, total cost $503.14.

If you have been paying attention, the entire foundation for my garage took me a snails pace of 14 months.

Unfortunately, like the building secrets of the ancient builders, documentation of my buildings methods have been lost to the ages.  I came to realize that I never put the memory card back in my camera until it was to late and I had finished the wall.

However the final pictures I did get, you can see that my wall turned out pretty well.  The walls are plumb and nearly.... that's nearly square.  Lesson learned from this phase: constantly check the position of your string line.  At some point I knocked the stake holding my string line on the south wall and one of my walls walks in almost 2".  Lucky the bricks are 8" wide and the walls are 4", so I have some space to make adjustments.

BUT... That information has been LOST.




The experts ask, "How did it all come together?"  The Discovery Channel hosts will ponder that question generations from now.  How did he haul the bricks across his lawn? How did he place the bricks with such tight precision?

How fortunate was he in the spacing of his rebar into the cells of the bricks? How long did it take him to fill each cell with grout.  How did he place the anchor bolts?

Answers lost and a mystery created.

But I can tell you one thing my five fans.  My foundation is finished!   14 months since my first shovel of dirt.  Through summer heat and winter gales I persisted.  Little by little.  Shovel by shovel.  Wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow.  BRICK BY BRICK.  For those of you who have been following me through this.  You know my excitement.  I knew this would be the excruciatingly long part of this entire process.  But now it is done.

I have crossed this huge hurdle and I'm close, folks.  The sill plates are in.   Everything is set to lower this old beauty onto it's new foundation.  Soon its ancient wood gets new life standing strong on its sturdy legs.  Anchored into the concrete that's wrapped around the solid rock. Connecting it to the entire planet!