(Under Construction)
This is an artists conception of what the castle will look like when finished.
It looks like we may all need to live in castles soon to protect us from our government.
The United States is now a police state. For more information, click here:
Martial Law
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Pictures of work done in 1999
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Pictures of work done in 2000
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Pictures of work done in 2001
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Pictures of work done in 2002
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Pictures of work done in 2003
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Pictures of work done in 2004
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Pictures of work done in 2005
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Pictures of work done in 2006
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Pictures of work done in 2007
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Pictures of work done in 2008
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Pictures of work done in 2009
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Pictures of work done in 2010
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Pictures of work done in 2011
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Pictures of work done in 2012
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Pictures of work done in 2013
Click here for Answers to frequently asked questions about Dupont Castle.
For pictures of work done in 2014, scroll down this page.
Pictures of recent progress (
2014)
1-11-2014 This is what the castle looks like at the beginning of 2014.
2-3-2014 This winter has been worse than most. This is a photo from the third floor window.
2-13-2014 - I took this photo on the roof. This is the snow on one of the towers.
2-13-2014 - Eleven inches so far. It's still snowing.
2-13-2014 - I feel bad for our deer friends. They wanted to go to Florida for the winter,
but missed the plane.
2-28-2014 - I finally got around to installing the base molding, and painting the rest of
the hall on the third floor. This is the view in one direction.
2-28-2014 - This is the view in the other direction, I still need to install a
railing near the stairs.
4-15-2014 - I also installed the molding and painted the hall on the second floor.
5-1-2014 - One of the reasons I have not been getting much castle work done lately is that
I've been spending time working on the Moatmonster. He had some leaking hydraulic cylinders.
I have installed new seals in four of them, and this is the rod and piston from the fifth.
5-1-2014 - This is the cylinder that the rod and piston go into.
5-1-2014 - And this is the cylinder all put together. I still have a couple more small
leaks to tend to, but the cylinders are all in good shape now.
5-21-2014 - This strange thing showed up in the garage near the roof.
5-21-2014 - I took a look, and it seems to have four large jellybeans in it.
5-21-2014 - And there is this crazy bird that sits on it most of the time.
I wonder what it is.
5-23-2014 - We were visited by well-known photographer
Brian Ulrich. He was accompanied by his two associates
(Ashley and Stanley). They took photos of the castle with some pretty
sophisticated cameras. We enjoyed having them here and hope they were able to get some
good pictures.
5-31-2014 - We had a visitor today. I told him to come back a few days before Thanksgiving.
He just laughed and ran off.
6-1-2014 - I don't like to cut down trees, but unfortunatly this one is right where the planned
wall will go. I will need to take it down.
6-4-2014 - The tree is gone now. I need to do some more digging before I can start putting
in the new footers.
6-5-2014 - Well, this is strange, the four jellybeans have turned into little balls of fluff
with little beaks on them.
6-14-2014 - Mr. Moatmonster has been digging lately, and he has managed to get us to the castle
wall where the new wall will connect.
6-16-2014 - The new kids are growing up. They will be going off to college soon. At this point,
they barely fit in the nest. Momma bird was saying that she wishes she had built a two bedroom
house.
6-17-2014 - I checked on the kids this morning about 9:30. The all had their suitcases packed and
were talking about going off to flight school.
6-17-2014 - I checked again about 10:30. They were gone. I have not seen them since. I kind of
miss them, perhaps they will come back for a visit sometime.
7-7-2014 - I am about half done getting the forms in place for the footers for the new section.
7-18-2014 - I now have all the lumber in place for the footers, but there is still much to do before
I can pour the concrete. The forms are not yet level, and having them level is of great importance.
I also need to run the power tamper on the soil to make sure it is as solid as can be, and I
need to put in the re-bar.
7-24-2014 - The soil up here is pretty solid, but we need to tamp the soil under the footers
to make sure it's compacted so it can hold up the castle without having any settlement
that could cause cracks.
7-25-2014 - That's where our friend Thumper comes in. He's pretty old, but he still runs and
can make the soil solid. I run him around the dirt a couple of times, then I put in a bit of
gravel and run him around again.
7-27-2014 - This is what it looks like when I'm finished thumping. You will notice that
I have stapled some 6 mil plastic on the inside of the forms. This makes it much easier
to remove the forms after the concrete has hardened.
7-28-2014 - It is VERY important that the tops of the forms be level. Our builders level may
not be the newest and most advanced system, but he gets the job done.
7-30-2014 - The re-bar is now in place. There are just a couple of minor things to do and
I will be ready to pour the concrete.
8-1-2014 - The chute on the concrete truck should be long enough to reach the inside
form, but just in case it's a little too short, I build a moveable chute extender.
8-4-2014 - It's a good thing I had the home made chute extender, the truck chute was
a little short to reach the back forms.
8-4-2014 - As the concrete comes out of the chute, it needs to be moved around and
then we run a board across the top to keep it level with the top of the forms. My
friend Jerry came over to help. Thanks Jerry.
8-4-2014 - Galin stayed on the level above the work area to help supervise the pour.
8-4-2014 - Pouring on the other side of the job was a little easier, the truck chute
had no trouble reaching this part.
8-4-2014 - Almost done.
8-6-2014 - After the concrete is poured, it's necessary to keep it wet for a while.
I water it down with the hose, and then cover it with old tarps and plastic to keep
it from drying out too soon. I do this for 2 to 3 days.
8-7-2014 - While removing the forms from the footers, I found a small frog (or
perhaps a toad). I thought that if I said Alakazam, perhaps she would turn into a
beautiful princess. Well, I said Alakazam, and all she turned into
8-7-2014 - was a bigger toad.
8-11-2014 In order to keep water out of the inside, I need to install 4 inch black
drain pipe around the footers. You can see the pipe along the left side of the footers.
I still need to put more gravel on top of the pipe.
8-13-2014 One of our deer friends had a baby recently. This morning, the baby came
by to say hello.
8-13-2014 Now, I need to fill in the space between the footers. I will add dirt,
and then tamp. After the first go around with the tamper, I will add more dirt and do it again.
8-13-2014 I am in the process of the first tamp. When finished, the soil between
the footers needs to be solid and level with the tops of the footers.
8-13-2014 Almost finished. I still need to put a little more dirt and tamp it again.
I may wait till just before pouring the concrete floor to do the final tamp.
8-19-2014 The man came to deliver the blocks today. I received over 1,200 blocks.
8-20-2014 Before starting to place the blocks with mortar, I set them out dry just to
make sure everything fits where I want it to.
8-25-2014 One of the reasons I like to lay all the blocks out dry beforehand is to make
sure the re-bars in the footers line up properly with the holes in the blocks. After a
while, these holes will have more re-bar added and filled with concrete. This locks
the wall to the footers and makes the wall stronger.
8-26-2014 Row 1 is finished, 1 down, 13 to go.
9-1-2014 Most of row 3 is now finished. I have started working on row 4.
9-2-2014 Row 4 is now done. I was asked how I will be able to get into this area.
There will be a door in this opening that goes to the outside, and there will be a door
that goes into the basement through the wall you see here.
9-2-2014 Some of our deer friends showed up this evening. This is the first time
three of the little ones have been here all at the same time.
9-23-2014 The plastic is down, and the re-enforcing wire is in. It's time to
pour the floor.
9-24-2014 Today, with a lot of help from my friend Jerry, we are pouring the new floor.
9-24-2014 We also got some help from the nice cement truck driver.
9-24-2014 After the concrete is all poured, I need to start smoothing it out
using the bull float.
9-24-2014 After further smoothing, this is our new floor.
10-17-2014 We were visited by the people from Marlandria. In the past, they have
laid seige to the castle. See:
The 2006 Siege of Dupont Castle
and:
The 2009 siege of Dupont Castle
The apparent head of the group was about to attack our brave knight, but
we talked him out of it.
10-17-14
It turned out that these are really nice people. We hope they come to visit again.
10-20-2014 Seven rows down and seven to go - half done with the blockwork.
The blocks standing up along the top are for row eight. I will mortar them down
as soon as I get a chance. The reason I have not blocked in this end of the
structure is that by leaving it open till most of the work is finished, it makes
it easier for the backhoe to deliver the blocks to the work area.
10-29-2014 Eleven rows down and three to go.
11-7-2014 Row 14 finished on both long walls. I still need to finish the short end wall.
11-9-2014 All the blocks (over 1,100) are now in place for the addition to the basement.
11-13-2014 I've finished parging the bottom half of the interior wall. I still need to
apply the waterprofing, and backfill this area.
11-13-2014 I am also working on installing the sill plates. They need to be bolted to
the blocks using anchor bolts that are set into the blocks with concrete.
11-14-2014 It's about 37 degrees out today, too cold to do masonry stuff. I decided
to start installing the floor joists.
11-17-2014 In order to keep water from coming through the walls, I need to coat
the outside with waterproofing tar. I have finished with the lower half of this
wall.
11-24-2014 Now that the lower part of the trench is filled with dirt, I was
able to stand on that dirt to parge and waterproof the upper part of the wall
that will be below ground level.
11-26-2014 Well, here it is the day before Thansgiving and we are having our
first real snow of the season. So far, we have about 4 inches, but we expect more.
12-1-2014 The snow didn't last long, and some of our wild turkey friends
showed up today. It seems they usually show up a few days AFTER Thanksgiving.
12-10-2014 I now have all the plywood in place for the floor. I need to
buy more nails so I can finish nailing it down. Also, I have done most
of the backfilling on this side.
12-29-2014 I still am far from finished with this, but I bought a used door
for the new basement area. It's in place, but needs a lot more work before
it's completely installed. I'll work on it as weather permits.
Click here to send E-Mail
to Jim or Patty.
Queen Patricia and I would like to say a special THANK YOU to the following people
who have volunteered time and energy to help with the work at the castle site.
Bill Postlethwait
Mariann Postlethwait
Mark Eastwood
Barbara Gay
Jim Eaton
Carol Eaton
John Miller
Terry Robinson
Shereen Robinson
Brad Hurliman
Rob Dekarske
Shirley Mandler
T.O. Galloway
Bill White
Adam Elliott
Mike Rozalski
I would also like to thank the following people for advice, technical assistance, encouragement,
and moral support:
John Miller - Bull Run Castle
Ron Bigbee - Castle Avalon
Sir Randy Michael - Chateau LaRoche
Peter Wing - Wings Castle
Sue Maxwell - Ravenwood Castle
Mike Freeman - Castell Gwynn
Roger Greim - Kataryna Castle
Bruce Busboom - Busboom Castle
Meme Hardin - Hardin Castle
Wyatt C Mortensen - Sleeping Beauty Castle
David O'Connor - Castle Anam Cara
We would like to thank the following people who donated either money furnishings,
or building materials to the Dupont Castle building project.
Bill & Mariann Postlethwait
Shirley Zimmerman & Bob Hampl
Mark Eastwood &Barbara Gay
Frank & Beverly Frederick
Bentley & PamWestfield
Al Dumit
Frank Bredimus - Berkeley castle
Mack & Mattie McLaughlin
Terry and Rick Moody - Sky High Castle
John & Pat Beno
Terry and Linda Jemison
Tientje Willis
Carl & Christine Hanfling
Charles Klusarits
Rick & Shirley Rutherford
T.O. Galloway and Shirley Mandler
Bill White
Annamae and Ron Ankeny
Keith Nolan
Foy and Helen Varner
Jim Fassio
Richard Taylor
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