Building Blocks
For the last few weeks, a huge pile of concrete blocks stacked up in the front room has slowly shrunk. One by one, they have been carried deeper on site to be mortared into place.
The old western wall of our property was built of mamposteria. Not structurally sound and encroaching the boundary of the neighbor’s property, we decided to build a new block wall in front to support the second level. Goodbye old wall.
Block walls for the stairs are starting to take shape. For the first time, parts of the new addition are beginning to emerge and we can start to see how various spaces are framed.
Below you can see the view as you come down the stairs. In front is the new east boundary wall that is not quite high enough to block the view of the ruin next door.
As our ruin is slowly being devoured by our renovation, we become less forgiving of the dilapidated buildings that surround us. A tree or two to block the (formally romanticized) unsightliness will provide the perfect remedy.
Meanwhile in the rear garden, the new mamposteria wall has finally attained its full height of three and a half meters.
For the last few weeks, we have watched this wall climb to new heights, worrying all the while about how much higher it could possibly get. Now leveling out at its final altitude, we have stopped fretting. This is particularly true once we remembered that the rear garden of the property is going to be raised up 60cm (approx. two feet), and thus shrink the towering construction.
