WK16C: Masonry Wall, 2nd lift & Plumbing

Back from Berlin, and back on the job, we proceeded to crank up production again in order to finish the concrete phase of the project. It’s been a long hot summer and after shutting the job down for a month I’m itching to get things moving again. We still have two weeks left of our concrete work and then it’s on to waterproofing and framing.

Our Plumber also put in his under-slab pipes, that will connect all of the plumbing to the sewer at the lower street. The tall pipe you see in the photo is to pressure test the system. This pipe is filled with water and the resulting pressure is left overnight. When the inspector comes the next day, he taps the pipe to see if any water drained out, which would indicate a leak.

After the plumbing lines were tested we then covered the pipes to protect them and then spread 2” of clean sand over the area in preparation for the slab. Next , 10mls of plastic sheeting called “visqueen” is laid over the sand to provide a moisture barrier. Finally, another 2” of sand is laid on top to serve as a leveling bed for the concrete. After that the rebar grid is laid out and the slab is almost ready to be poured.

The second “lift” of masonry as it’s known usually requires the most coordination. Anchor bolts for the sill-plate must be coordinated with the plans and any hardware specific anchor bolts must be triple-checked with the plans to ensure that nothing is in the wrong place.

In the last two feet of the wall you have what is known as the “bond beam”. The bond beam essentially holds the entire structure together by forming a super-tight joint at the top of the wall. It is also designed to absorb some of the compressive forces when the wall has to support the framing above. Our bond beam calls for 2 #5 horizontal bars top and bottom, with #5 verticals every 8 inches on center.