Work has begun on the building of the exterior walls. The first step is to build a structural wall out of Poroton blocks, the same type of blocks as were used to provide structure, soundproofing, and insulation to the slab between the two floors. Later, the exterior will be finished with stone and the interior with plaster.
In this overview photo, the house is coming along nicely.
After reading about them and seeing the pictures of our walls in progress, I had a question: why were the using the blocks with the cores arranging horizontally? Typical construction practice seemed to be with vertical cores, like is done with cinder blocks. Then I read further: they can be used horizontally in walls.
I also read that when used horizontally, they should have vertical “caps” at the ends. and not just end with an “open” block.
Now when I looked at the pictures again, I noticed that the caps were not being used, So now that question is, why not? I’m off to Kevin to find out.
Here are all the pictures.
An Update
Kevin cleared up my confusion about the horizontal cores and the lack of the end cap pieces. The caps are needed when building a load-bearing wall, but in our house the load is carried by the reinforced concrete column and beam framework. I had not read the document describing Poroton wall construction carefully enough.
Sources:
Poroton diagram: | http://www.sanmarco.it/images/download/la_corretta_esecuzione_delle_murature_in_laterizio.pdf
All other images: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure
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