We Got Blocks!

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This photgraph shows seven pallets of 8" x 8" x 16", two-void cement blocks.

This shot of three more pallets of two-void cement blocks makes a total of ten pallets. Multiplied by ninety blocks per pallet, we have 900 of the 2,000 blocks on order from the block plant. Right here on St. Croix, a cement block factory, the Superior Block Company, who'd thought?

Ah yes, the sand. This sand is the main additive for the mortar mix. Water and cement are the other two elements in the mix. Water, where are we to get the water to the site? I will see to purchasing a pre-formed, pre-stressed concrete septic tank. Our builder informed me that he usually has the owner do exactly that, purchase the tank that will eventually be your septic tank and have it delivered to the site. In our case we will probably not dig a hole for it, at least not yet.

We intend to store our tank above ground for now, in what will be our front yard, to the south of the house. We will fill it with water for the masons to use to mix the mortar, clean the work tools and the worker's hands too! I haven't seen this yet, but they tell me a pump is used to extract the water from the tank, through a hose and into a plastic barrel for use. we have no power to the site yet, and we are still on a generator for electrical needs.

Tomorrow the Masons begin the walls of the house, stay with us as the house comes out of the excavation, and, little by little, block by block, our new home will be built.