The bricks just seem never ending in this chimney. We were hard at work today again after the Christmas break. Here is my brick and stone pile at the start of the day:
Now that I have moved all the brick and limestone from inside, plus all the bricks and stone we pulled down from the chimney today, my pile now looks like this:
As we got lower in the chimney, my husband and I were digging out an increasing amount of rubble. It was scooped into buckets and I carried it out to dump into the skip in the front yard. Six solid hours and 16,000 steps later, the skip was almost full. All the piles stacked inside on Friday were gone:
By lunch, our chimney was considerably smaller:
The second bedroom half of the chimney had some tricky pieces to move, including this large limestone block that ran the width of the chimney:
After we excavated a bit further, we discovered a large concrete block that formed the top of the fireplace cavity. While it was a heavy piece to move, it made a useful funnel for all the rubble we were finding, packed around the bricks and stone.
After encountering two more monster sized blocks on the other side, we dug down enough to be nearing the floor:
With the skip being collected tomorrow, we had to clear up as much rubble as possible. It feels like the Magic Pudding – no matter how much you take out, there is always more. We did as much as possible then cleared out the lounge room to roll up the carpet. The underlay was stapled to the floor and the carpet was under the granite slab for the firebox. We got the firebox out:
We cut the carpet around the granite, cut it into more manageable pieces so we actually had a hope of getting it out the front door, and then rolled it all up. We folded up the brittle linoleum in the second bedroom and into the skip it went. The lounge carpet was tacked but the carpet in the front bedroom had been secured with strips of quarter round. It also had no underlay and given the age of the carpet, the backing had perished and stuck to the floorboards:
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to use the flooring in any of the rooms except (hopefully) the third bedroom. The hearths in the two bedrooms will mean major patching is required:
The loungeroom floor is a mix of old and new floorboards, plus a giant patch of concrete where the verandah was built it. I forgot to take a photo of it before we left, so I will have to do that before we start again in the morning. While my husband and I concentrated on the chimney, my father-in-law finished dismantling the rear verandah ceiling:
With the skip full, we spent a few minutes planning out our day for tomorrow and headed home for a much needed shower! I felt like I’d taken a bath in limestone dust….
Hasta luego!
