Here are a few pictures of the progress on the concrete block wall. I started in the corners, and quickly realized that if I did the entire task myself, it would take roughly... well, forever. I called up Andy, an experienced masonry/concrete guy, and hired him for a Saturday. Between the two of us (him really) 'we' put up about 200 block, completing 3 of the four walls.
Since then I have gotten busy and finished the last wall. When I started, it was taking me 4 hours to do 8 blocks, including getting all of the tools out and clean-up at the end. Last night I did about 32 block to finish the last wall, and it took me about 6 hours. That included about 1.5 hours of getting all of the tools out and clean-up at the end. With the help of the various tips that Andy gave me, I think I am up to about 25% speed of what someone who knew what they were doing could accomplish.
Next on the task list is to fill each core where a rebar is, and set my anchor bolts. My back is starting to hurt just thinking about it. I don't know yet how much concrete it will take, but it should be around 1 cu. yd. That translates to about 45 bags of concrete. It might even be cost effective to have a truck come out with a small load. The first thing I plan to do is to buy 2 or 3 bags, mix them up, and see how many cores they fill. That will also give me a chance to figure out how to set the anchor bolts where I want them, keeping them straight, centered, and correct height.
Other items I need to take care of are the "back-plastering", where you put a thin (1/4") coat of mortar on the outside of the walls where they will be below grade, and waterproofing coating.
