On July Fourth we held a work day for the Tavern site. One group of folks started laying bricks for the kitchen back wall, specifically starting and setting the two back corners.
Kitchen at the start of the day on Sept. 5th
So on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, a crew of members continued laying bricks, raising the back wall to about a foot high, and adding the two rows to complete 95% of a plinth wall on the south wall of the kitchen. We’ll plan more workdays to get as much brick laying done as possible before winter’s freeze sets in.
Kitchen progress at the end of the day!
Gardiner’s also ordered a big pile of dirt to help us even out the low spots around the tavern site. A hardy crew spent the day moving the mountain of dirt to the various depressions sneakily lying about hoping to collect mud and trip passers by. We have further plans to spread grass seed, and possibly aerate the area to encourage a nice lawn for pike drills and skirmishing.
The daunting pile at the beginning of the day.
The much smaller remaining pile of dirt. 🙂
And another crew worked on the roof tiles. They built a shelf system for tile drying and storage, cleaned up the already poured tiles, mixed up and poured another batch of roof tiles into the molds, and then tested out the existing tiles on a nearby woodpile roof. This final test proved very illuminating, as the tiles cracked due to vibrations from nailing them in place. Using screws instead proved more holy, if less accurate. The crew also noticed that the broken tiles had more air bubbles in them, so perhaps a way to encourage fewer air pockets might help too. So, we’ve still got a way to go to figure out and make enough tiles.
Test use of roofing tiles proved informative.
On the whole, it was a very successful weekend. We accomplished quite a bit on Saturday and the site and kitchen are progressing along nicely.
Amy works on laying bricks
Laura weeds out some saplings from the site
Child labor was legal in Elizabethan England!
Bob “Ever But At Times of Need At Hand” washes down the newly laid bricks.
Bob “Ever But At Times of Need At Hand” washes down the newly laid bricks.
And you can see more pictures of site work on Flickr.