So, I guess that the little trick of having all the materials on site and ready to use really does give us as kick in the arse to make a start on something. Well, in our case... we had the stuff, and whilst I was away on tour, my father-in-law made a start on the retaining wall. He was going to be pretty much in charge of the whole thing, he has the experience and the ability... and we were going to be the trainees and the manual labour. But when I got back, he had already laid one side of foundation and bricks, and got the drainage system sorted out and planned.
All that remained was for me to learn how to lay the first layer of the next line of bricks, learn how to mix up the concrete, and learn how to make the foundation level... along with any little tricks that would make it easier... or harder!
Plus, all the drainage gravel would need to be moved up from the huge pile at the front of the house through to the back of the house to fill up the drainage area, and to fill the hollow bricks!
More than a few wheelbarrow loads of drainage gravel later... I'm almost finished filling the drainage area. This was the most critical part, so that the ag-pipe wouldn't be exposed and so that it wouldn't silt up with all the debris falling into it. Eventually, this will be covered with a shallow layer of earth as we dig out the rear wall trench.
... and here is our drainage gravel pile.... its big, but rapidly shrinking. I can generally do two 30 minute sessions of rock transporting per day before I start to feel my back reminding me that I'm not as young as I think I am. Nothing terrible, but as a musician, I probably should keep my expectations in check and not try to ruin my career on pushing myself beyond what my body is capable of.
Quite honestly, I'm quite in awe of people who manage to do this for the whole day through the week as a job! It's quite a huge undertaking...
To aid with the dumping into the trench and bricks, I ended up on filling buckets of gravel instead of just filling the wheelbarrow. It ended up being more efficient as it was much quicker and easier to unload at the other end (the wall end of things), and not that much slower at the filling end.
I've been also bringing the bricks down from the storage area through to the building area in chunks each day. With this trolley, I can do three at a time... again, a slight increase in efficiency over doing them one at a time in my hands. I'm a gamer at heart...
Although, I do need to be careful with loading and unloading from the trolley.... one load tipped over, and a couple of the bricks broke. Ooops... I hope that we remembered to include extra buffer in the original order... I always do that sort of thing, but my wife was less keen. I can't remember who prevailed in that discussion... and by how many bricks!
I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x
Handy Crypto Tools
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Coinbase Wallet: Multi chain wallet with lots of opportunities to Learn and Earn!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
MEXC: Accepts HIVE, and trades in most poopcoins! Join the casino!
ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?
Account banner by jimramones
In fairness to you, people who do this type of work normally are probably a bit stronger. And very much feeling it in their old age XD
have worked on people who have spent their entire lives doing manual labour, some of it really difficult sounding
The buckets of gravel idea is great.
Actually... I think that is true... some of the family are tradies, and they are always aching or nursing injuries. Can't be great for older age...
Leveling the first line very well is very important. I am also very impressed by the blocks, they look a little different from the ones here. How big will your wall be?
I'd love to keep watching the progress.
The first line seems to be THE most important thing. I hope that I have learnt it well from my father-in-law when I start the next bit by myself.
This isn't going to be high... about 80 cms... but it is about 15 metres long!