Finishing the masonry

Framer in action. This is totally safe.

We're reaching the end of the masonry and boy it cannot come fast enough. My hands are so tired of laying brick. My back aches from mixing mortar and concrete. It's time to be done, there is one column and two walls left to go.

Wall is getting close to the floorboards! And the column is now taller than the floor

This wall still has a ways to go

The finished stairs. All of the bricks are finally in and the stairs are done!! Done done done!!

The front wall is done! Done done done!!!

Finishing off the stairs and that wall is a huge milestone. Especially the stairs. That took forever. It was such a slow process. But the end result is perfect. The stairs have a 7 1/4" rise and a 12" run. They are comfortable and easy to get up and down. And the wall comes right up to the bottom of the floorboards. I'm still amazed that my math actually came out correct on that.

The last column is up!

The last column is finished!! Done done done!!!

It's tall too - almost as tall as I am - 6'

I'm going to wrap up the bricklaying with a tour around the porch. To show off my finished products

Left wall, with the handrail and roof rim/post framed up already

The family loves it

I love this offset detail to bring the stairs out from this post

The stairs

already having fun on the new porch!

The front wall & right 2 columns

The right wall is finished!!! Done done done done!!!

And that is all of the bricks. There is still one other thing I have to do to completely finish the masonry. That last column needs to be filled in with concrete and capped off, with the cap rebar & j-bolts put in to anchor the post topper.

The cap is poured!

It's 2x4's to get the depth of the cap, with 1x6 wrapper to get the height

Kelley added some personalization to the last cap

And it's done! That makes done done done done done!! Topper and anchors attached

And with that, all of the masonry is complete. I'm so glad I can part ways with the mortar hoe for a while. Now I have to get into those handrails and the roof!