Garage All Gone!

 

Mr. Edens, our brickmason, was back again this week to work on the garage – which really can’t be called a garage anymore!

They start by cutting out some of the bricks on the perimeter of the area.  They want to create a seamless look between the old edge and the new section.  They weave in the bricks on this edge similar to the way a basket is woven.  The cloud of dust is brick dust from the saw Mr. Edens’ son is using.

 

They were able to use all the brick Luke had cleaned – which was around 300 bricks!  They work incredibly quickly, using a chalk line to keep the courses straight.  They start at the bottom and work up.

If you look carefully, about 1 1/2 feet above the opening is a row of dots.  These are actually huge bolts to support the bricks above the opening.  Glenn screwed in a large beam on the inside of the wall from one side to the other because Mr. Edens was a little concerned the bricks might begin to fall otherwise.  We thought it was a dandy idea.

 

They finished about half of it the first day, then ran out of bricks.  So Glenn picked up more on his way home from work.  Mr. Edens had called around a few weeks ago to find the kind we need.  Since we are painting the bricks, they don’t need to match in color, they just need to be the same material.  We used concrete bricks of the same shape as the ones already on the house.  You can see how well they match the old ones – except for the color of course.

 

They – and we – were a little disappointed that we ran out of bricks again on the second day.   So we called Glenn again, and he brought 100 more bricks home that night, plus one more bag of mortar.  At least the Menards’ people were spared our daily visits for one day.

 

But something exciting happened that night – well a couple of things – to cheer us up!

First – Glenn cut the windows for our bedroom and bath!  Yippee! 

 

                                                    

 

 

And then he and Luke put the window units in place!

 

Garage???!!!  Where??  I don’t see a garage anywhere…

 

From the inside – we went from this:

 

                              

                                         to this!

                      

 

Hooray!!

Now if only I could start decorating…