The day begins with a cake from Francis Padilla's mother, Francisca. Tyra has a birthday coming up August 28, so that was a good reason for a celebration. The cake was great! Yes, Francis put a little frosting on Tyra's nose. Actually happened Wednesday night.
A small part of the architectural blueprint for the house. Compared to a 2-car garage, the house is about 6 feet bigger in each dimension, approximately 500 square feet.
Juan is the head mason, and he is the only person who sets the blocks in place. As he works, we keep him supplied with mortar. Below, see how he gets the block over the rebar.
Juan bends the rebar and slips the block over it. Other masons we've seen in the past have used a wood frame and a board to hold the block above their head to push the block over the rebar. Of course, if you drop the block doing it that way, that's a big problem. Such a device (not shown) is called a devil's cross. Juan says he dislikes the devil's cross and never uses it.
We have to mix mortar and chispa, and a round of "YMCA" helps us keep up the rhythm to get the work done. Chispa is a looser version of mortar used to fill in the holes in the lower blocks of the foundation to provide more stability to the base of the house. Many construction design features are intended for earthquake protection.
A temporary turtle sculpture made of mixed mortar. Not bad!
Filling the holes in the lower bricks with chispa, delivered in buckets after being mixed manually with shovels on the mixing pad. Left to right: Jenelle, Kara, and Tyra. We use plastic drink bottles cut in half as scoops for the chispa.
We have to mix mortar and chispa, and a round of "YMCA" helps us keep up the rhythm to get the work done. Chispa is a looser version of mortar used to fill in the holes in the lower blocks of the foundation to provide more stability to the base of the house. Many construction design features are intended for earthquake protection.
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