As I work week after week on a thick brick wall, I must keep the end product in mind.
It’s easy to get tired or discouraged when the work is slow and you are a one-person team, but I enjoy the work overall and listening to podcasts that interview authors, scientists, artists, comedians, and everyday-womans/mens.
Still thinking of later in the process, I’ve saved about four wine bottles, all green, with this in mind:
I need to start buying differently colored bottles of cheap wine. Any recommendations?
I’m also thinking of putting one of my old snare drums in the wall so that I can play the wall. Rob doesn’t like this idea and is frowning at this very moment over it.
Another brick in the wall
Skipped a week due to birthday camping getaway — though I did manage to brick-lay a couple of days and make it this far:
We did have a nice time at the Neuse River, even managing to film the second act of our first #Comments sketch series…
…and make my first Meme on the drive there (Rob was driving):
Cob progress this week
This week, I put in 2.5 solid days of brickwork, which is about all my hands can handle without feeling so much AM pain. It’s actually not that bad as the day goes along.
Below, you can see I mostly finished the east wall, and have started laying the north side (on the right in the photo).
I am in the home stretch!
I was rained out today, but did take one photo. Perhaps my bar is low, but I’m encouraged that the walls are still standing.
It will probably take another 1-2 weeks to finish the foundation depending on the weather, and then I will move on to build the roof. I also need to get a door and doorway before the foundation is final.
Total costs to date
| Week | Cob item | Cob cost |
| 1 | Used decorative door piece, wooden dish rack | $2 |
| 3 | Extra 4″ drainage pipe | $6 |
| 4 | Gravel | $55 |
| 4 | Portland Cement | $16 |
| 4 | Sand | $15 |
| 5 | More sand | $15 |
| 5 | 4 glass block windows (from Scrap Exchange) |
$2 |
| 5 | Psyllium husk for floor (with shipping) |
$25 |
| 7 | More sand | $15 |
| 7 | More cement | $10 |
| TOTAL | $161 |
