We were coming down to the wire on the block in the closet but Terry Amburgy Masonry came through right on time. Terry and his crew also laid the block for the foundation back in May. They did a great job on the foundation and a great job on the closet as well.
The closet was framed oversize on purpose with the intent of it doubling as a safe room for Odie during storms. Safe rooms are not common in Ohio but Odie has no way to flee very far to safety during a tornado warning, so including a safe room in her house makes perfect sense to us.
Here is a picture with the first row of block laying around the perimeter.
We left a 73" opening during the framing stage as you can see in the pictures above. The framed wall will have a 36" pocket door and the block wall will have a 36" steel door that will swing inward. The steel door will remain open until Odie needs to take shelter and then she can shut it.
Everything was in place early Friday morning.
They took quite a bit of time to get their corners correct and to build an ingenious system to keep it straight all the way up.
They filled every block cavity and put lots of #5 (5/8") rebar at the appropriate intervals.
They finished about 9:30 or 10:00 Friday night. and then cleaned everything up. There was an amazing about of mortar on the floor but it was gone by the time they left. Terry and his guys really went the extra mile to finish Friday night so that we could install the pocket door frame, clean up and be ready for drywall Saturday morning.
I mentioned yesterday the several people helped us late Saturday night and we sure appreciate it very much.
By the time we turned out the lights Friday night there was a 36" opening in the framed wall for the pocket door and a 40" opening in the block wall for the 36" steel door.
Terry and his guys showed up early Saturday morning and cleaned up the outside area. These guys were amazing and I highly recommend them. Of course, you better get in line. I know they turn down a bunch of work because they do not have time to do it all.
Later this week we are going to hang the metal door and David Butler is going to pour a concrete ceiling. That will put us well on our way to completing this phase of the project.
That takes you around the block. I appreciate you dropping in today to read a little bit and look at pictures.
Davy
