April 13, 2005 - The bricklayer, Dick Hearn from Arlington, installed the wall ties and I had the city do the wall tie inspection.  The brick arrives on Monday, so we'll soon be rolling!

April 18, 2005 - Today the brick arrived, although late and with no notice (the driver was supposed to call when he was an hour out).  Funny coincidence - the Hanson Brick truck driver said that he delivered the brick when our house was built 22 years ago!  Getting the truck in the driveway close enough to unload by the shop was a challenge - the driver made me sign a waiver releasing him from damages to grass or concrete, then proceeded to make a mess of the yard ... oh well, it still hadn't recovered from the concrete trucks, so no biggie ...

April 20, 2005 - Dick started the brick work today!  Yesterday the mortar was delivered and Dick setup his scaffolding.  I had to go to a customer site before he got started, so here is the 'before' shot:

May 3, 2005 - Lots of forward and backward motion, but no progress photos ... The brick arrived a week late and the schedule continued to slip from there:

April 20 (Wednesday) - We started the day at -0- brick laid. When I got home, Dick and his helper had already left for the day; one half of one wall was done (25' long by 5' high), but the mortar appeared to be too dark. I called Dick, and he said it would lighten as it cured (I was still dubious, but he is the expert).

April 21 (Thursday) - When I got home, nothing had changed. Dick had left a message on the home answering machine saying that after looking it over, he realized that he used the wrong color mortar (dark buff instead of light buff), and asked how I wanted to handle it. I called him back and we agreed that it needed to be torn down and redone with the correct mortar.

April 22 (Friday) - Dick showed up and tore down the brick that had been laid, then knocked off for the day (they had to go get more mortar, sand, and the correct colorant). End of day: -0- brick laid.

April 23 (Saturday) - They showed up and re-laid the same amount of brick as last time (25' long by 5' high) by noon. After looking at the drying mortar, he realized it was still the wrong color. They played with the mix for a while, then tore back down what they had laid that morning. End of day: -0- brick laid.

April 24 (Sunday) - They spent the morning playing with the mortar mix, letting samples dry to compare to the house. By noon they had a match and started laying brick again. By the end of day, they had laid the same as the last two times (25' long by 5' high).

April 25-28 (Monday-Thursday) - Progress at last! They finished the West wall on Monday, and started the rear wall on Tuesday. The rear wall was done on Wednesday and the other side was done on Thursday. All that is left is the front (between the doors - lots of cutting) and the acid wash, which they should be able to complete on Monday.

May 2 (Monday) - Finished the shop brick and did repairs to the mortar on the existing house (the masonry job on the house was horrible - there were a lot of gaps and the wing walls on either end of the front were crumbling).  I joined the fun filling holes and cracks in house mortar - I now have no skin on the tips of my index or middle fingers (makes it kind of hard to type).

May 3 (Tuesday) - Acid wash is completed and everything was cleaned up.  The brick is done!!!

Although we hit a few rocky points, Dick really came through - the point work is excellent, all joints are level, straight and even, the jobsite was cleaned well, he hauled off all his debris, and they neatly stacked the leftover brick off to the side.  Best of all, even though this job took more time and expense than he anticipated, he stuck to the quoted price.

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