On 8/28/14 10:16 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:42:51 -0400, Poco Loco
wrote:


I can testify to the fact that carrying concrete blocks all day does not require a lick of training
or specialized skill. Buying a bag of mortar and following the mixing directions doesn't take a lot
of skill either, although a little knowledge of the English language may be helpful.

I got a pretty good schooling on laying block when I was building my 3
additions in Maryland. My contractor (and a personal friend) was
teaching his boy the trade and I was just another student/helper on
that job. I mixed mortar, stacked block on the scaffolds and laid
block to the line in the field.
If you get the mortar right, not as easy as it would seem, and you
understand the process, you can learn to lay block to the line pretty
quickly. Laying the piers in the corners and getting everything
started is a trick. Actually going fast only comes with experience.
I still think that a reasonably intelligent person could be a pretty
decent block mason in a summer. Brick may take longer, particularly if
you want to go fast.
\
I built the back half of this
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/bric...ed%20house.jpg



Once the footers were poured and inspected, a retiree bricklayer friend
of mine, an active bricklayer and I did all the block work, including
steel reinforcement, over a two day weekend. They probably could have
done it faster without my "expert help". I mostly mixed mortar and
carried the block. The rest of the place was finished and buttoned up
over the course of the summer, including the installation of a wood
stove. Now, we have 'lectricity, finished interior walls, strip heat and
an A/C unit. It's still just a storage building, but we have slept out
there in it...there's a regulation bed.

http://tinyurl.com/m56ahrj