Removing the old chimney

Dan and I debated on wether or not to use the old chimney for the wood stove or if we should install a new one. We finally decided to tear down the original brick chimney. I asked for Dan’s advice on how I should tear it down and as a result he ended up doing it himself.

When Dan had removed the first bricks it was evident that we had made the right choice. The chimney was packed full of straw from bird nests.

The chimney in the main room had frame-work holding the brick up and when we opened it we found the handle for lifting the burner plates on the old cookstove. I wonder how long Billy looked for that handle.

After the chimney was removed I inserted 2″x6″ boards around the inside of the hole and put a piece of plywood to fill in the hole in the attic floor. (Didn’t want mom falling through the floor when she went to get the Christmas decorations out of the attic.)

I was left with a decent sized pile of bricks to clean up when Dan came up with the idea to clean them up and reuse them for the wall behind the wood stove. I really liked the idea.

I loaded them up in the pickup hauled them to the wood shop and cleaned them using a couple of chisels, hammer, oscillating tool and, a wire brush. I then hauled them back to the studio.

It was january when I finally had gotten the to the point I could install the brick. We had to first install the chimney so I could get the studio warm enough to cure the mortar on the bricks. To give me enough room to work on the brick we had to put a crazy looking stove-pipe on it. It worked I only burned my elbow once. We had built a wooden structure to put the brick against. We left room between it and the wall and left space underneath as an air exchange. I’ve never used mortar before so the mortar turned out a little rough but with the recycled bricks it added to the rustic charm.