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My wife and I bought a lake house that is nearly 50 years old. We are the second owners. The original owner apparently did a lot of work himself and some of it is fine, some isn't. He didn't know how to install insulation, for instance, so the house basically couldn't be heated when we moved in. But we fixed that and a lot of other things. But his solution to the insulation was to heat with a Vermont Casting Resolute woodstove - a nice one. But it was in the kitchen and my wife hates the smell of a wood fire. We have a separate fireplace but it is going gas. So this weekend, my project was to remove the chimney for the woodstove. I had a contractor take the top of the chimney off when we had an addition put on last year. But we didn't want them doing the demo in the house - we were worried about the mess.
So this weekend I did the demo. What was left went through the first floor ceiling and down to the foundation under the house. Eight foot ceiling and what you saw was nearly 5 feet wide and two bricks deep. The actual chimney was much smaller, most of the bricks were just for appearance. I asked the wife first and she said go ahead. Neither of us realized the extreme mess it would make. I pulled out my HF rotary hammer, the 10A one, and started removing bricks. I could get to the stub of the chimney from the attack so I just pulled it down. The top two rows were a pain because there wasn't anywhere for them to go. The actual chimney was also more difficult because they had mortared those bricks really well. The shell that was for appearance was the simplest. I started Friday afternoon ad finished the demo above the floor yesterday (Saturday). My wife was very upset about the dust. She made me do the demo of the rest in the crawl space with plastic over the opening in the floor. That wasn't great working conditions for me but was a good idea. I found a bunch of electrical boxes without covers, wires in the mortar (deep), copper plumbing pipes in the mortar (completely surrounded) but other than that, it was decently made. Wiring and plumbing were in the way so I had to remove the last concrete block so I could come in from below.
The HF did a great job. The mortar was well cured and hard but if I could get a good angle on it, it didn't stand a chance. I figured out that removing the support for the bricks up between the floor joists would make them fall down easier. I got nailed a few times but most of the time I didn't. But it got done. The patch is in the ceiling wallboard and the plywood subfloor will go in tomorrow. Not sure if I will weave the oak or not. Original plan was for cabinets which would cover the messy area. But my wife is tired of projects, at least for now. I think she will relent but I may wait a bit before putting down flooring. I should have put up barriers to control the dust, it was really bad.
So this weekend I did the demo. What was left went through the first floor ceiling and down to the foundation under the house. Eight foot ceiling and what you saw was nearly 5 feet wide and two bricks deep. The actual chimney was much smaller, most of the bricks were just for appearance. I asked the wife first and she said go ahead. Neither of us realized the extreme mess it would make. I pulled out my HF rotary hammer, the 10A one, and started removing bricks. I could get to the stub of the chimney from the attack so I just pulled it down. The top two rows were a pain because there wasn't anywhere for them to go. The actual chimney was also more difficult because they had mortared those bricks really well. The shell that was for appearance was the simplest. I started Friday afternoon ad finished the demo above the floor yesterday (Saturday). My wife was very upset about the dust. She made me do the demo of the rest in the crawl space with plastic over the opening in the floor. That wasn't great working conditions for me but was a good idea. I found a bunch of electrical boxes without covers, wires in the mortar (deep), copper plumbing pipes in the mortar (completely surrounded) but other than that, it was decently made. Wiring and plumbing were in the way so I had to remove the last concrete block so I could come in from below.
The HF did a great job. The mortar was well cured and hard but if I could get a good angle on it, it didn't stand a chance. I figured out that removing the support for the bricks up between the floor joists would make them fall down easier. I got nailed a few times but most of the time I didn't. But it got done. The patch is in the ceiling wallboard and the plywood subfloor will go in tomorrow. Not sure if I will weave the oak or not. Original plan was for cabinets which would cover the messy area. But my wife is tired of projects, at least for now. I think she will relent but I may wait a bit before putting down flooring. I should have put up barriers to control the dust, it was really bad.
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