Day 15: Shimming blocks

There is not much new to see today. We spent the entire day adding shims underneath the first course of blocks to make their top surfaces level. This is a time consuming but very important step on the first course. Once we are complete, the remaining courses will go up faster.

A couple other things happened today:

• Coady the plumber stopped by to pack some fine soil around the plumbing pipes positioned within the gravel layer. The soil prevents abrasion from the gravel.
• Erik Dazey, the electrician, stopped by to begin laying out the plastic electrical conduit that will carry electric utility power into the utility room, as well as some smaller conduits that will be positioned under the concrete slab to carry wires from the distribution board to outlets and appliances in the home.

Green comment for today:
Try to locate and use materials on the job site if possible. It minimizes manufacturing of new materials. Two examples from today:

1. Rather than purchasing sand, Coady spent some time sorting out fine soil from the recent excavation for use in protecting the plumbing.
2. Trevor used a piece of scrap wood I found over the weekend to cut some shims rather than using new shims.
   

Cindy and I spent last weekend together on site. She helped with some hard labor. While I cut a few small footings, she moved some gravel. Here is a pic of her in action. I've never seen such a big smile on someone schlepping gravel.


Thanks for reading. Feel free to post a comment if you like.