"It's a Brick....House!" (sung to the tune of "She's a brick house")

This week, I couldn't help but sing, "It's a brick....house" because after all the worry and debating about our brick decision, the choice has been made and bricks are going up. In fact, by Friday afternoon almost the whole right side of the house was finished.

 

The brick masons got started on Wednesday and went up about 1/3 of the wall. At that point, I was concerned about my brick choice. By Thursday afternoon, 2/3s of the wall was up and I felt somewhat better. On Friday afternoon, almost the whole wall was finished and I felt a lot of relief.

 

It's hard for the lay person to visualize what the finished product is going to look like.  I usually pride myself on being able to visualize things that are not yet tangible.  But, I think my brick fear has somehow decreased my ability to combine elements into a whole picture in my head.

 

I've never been around a a construction project that involved brick. So I really didn't know how it worked. Did you know the brick masons can only go so high everyday so that the mortar has time to set up before putting on the next layer? If you didn't wait for the mortar to dry and harden, the weight of the brick on top would end up squishing out the mortar on the bottom rows of brick. Makes total sense, but was just something I had never thought about. 

 

 

 

Below is a good shot of the "walking soldier" bricks just under the eaves that will stand guard on the house. It really makes a beautiful detail that you might not necessarily notice unless you were looking for it. We're really lucky that Maribeth keeps adding interesting details to the house that don't add lots of expense.



 



The brick looks kind of pink in this picture, but they really have an orangey-red color when they are dry, or the sun is shining on them.

Here's the head brick mason, Michael. According to Maribeth, he is the absolute best mason in the area. He's also funny.

Here is Michael and his assistant.  The assistant posed for me and I told him I was putting him on my blog and would make him famous. So, if you see him out and about in town, ask for his autograph.