Some of you wanted more info on the new block product I mentioned in an earlier blog. Always at your service, I knocked on Kent's door this morning (he's the owner) to find out more. The blocks are made from recycled paper they get from Houston combined with cement and a "secret additive". The finished product is much lighter in weight than a standard block (I can lift one with one hand and I'm a wimp!) and has an R value of 3.2 per inch which means an R factor of 32 for the 10" wall it makes. Photo top right is their "sample" building. They've been making the test block by hand but now that the 6 year testing period is over, they have an automatic block maker being manufactured for them in Canada. When it's up and running it will produce 15,000 blocks per day. And for those of you who still want more info, the web site is www.masongreenstar.com . (Do I get extra Brownie points or what?)Photo 3 is also a recycling effort known as "dumpster diving". I'm here to report the paint crew managed to recycle a whole bag of "good" things including the bottoms of a whole bunch of jean legs. We could all think of uses for those.
Photo 4 is of another water tank, this one built with a concrete base. The older shorter one on the right was probably a holding tank for water for the livestock. It's built of native stone as was the one in the photo from yesterday. If your computer lets you enlarge the photo you'll also see a bucket with a pink ribbon on it hanging from the tree limb. That's where the key to the house is should you want to go in and look around (it's for sale).
And lest you think we're all just play, bottom left shows the paint crew working on the exterior trim (we're not counting the miles we've painted so far). And the last one was the house site at the end of the day. It's a fairly "unusual" method of construction since the interior walls are going up first (notice the shower in place?) and then the exterior walls are being added. If I understood it correctly this was because the interior walls got done first etc. etc. So far it seems to be working although they did run into a couple of glitches (correctable) with the interior wall dimensions. The architect blamed it on the local wine he was enjoying the night he drew up the plans.
And for the Tillie update... John talked to Curtis who said not to worry, "I'll git it goin'." (we're just not sure when...) It's something to do with fluctuating power going to the fuel pump from the ignition. He also said it was "newer" (Tillie is a '76) than what he usually worked on (I told you this guy was old!).
