Tricks or Treats or Bricks

After a night of tricks and treats or the adult version, pizza, appetizers, and drinks at our favorite local, friendly bistro, we were awakened very early by wind, rain, and lightening.  No damage at the Cat Ranch, although we were hoping a few pine trees on the front hill would voluntarily snap in the wind.  Had it not been soooo early, it would have been a fun storm to watch. 

We spent all day Halloween working at House #1.  Oh the things we can accomplish on a vacation day. 

There are two chimneys in House #1.  One of them already had the top half removed and currently only goes as high as the ceiling of the first floor.  The other chimney was still through the roof and not looking very healthy. 

Once again, it was a squinty kinda day.  Also, we are going to replace the siding and gutters. 
 

This is the view when you walk in the front door. 

The view from the dining room.

 The view from the attic.

There was a cement patio stone on top of the chimney.  I don't have a picture of Walt Kowalski taking it off, because as soon as he lifted the stone, the chimney started crumbling.  He had to hold the patio stone and use his knees to keep the bricks from falling down the roof. Luckily, I was behind the ladder and the bricks that did fall were stopped by the ladder or went on either side.

 

Walt Kowalski did an amazing job of not falling off the roof, not letting bricks fall off the roof, and working quickly as the storm clouds rolled in.  Here is holding back the bricks with his knees again.

Walt Kowalski threw the bricks and mortar from the top portion of the chimney down into the chimney.  Although the chimney took up a considerable scape in the room, the inside diameter inside wasn't very large and it filled up quickly.  (You can see here where the bricks are missing. There were so many holes in the chimney, you could see to the inside from the outside. The previous family was fortunate that there were so many air leaks between the roof and chimney, otherwise the carbon monoxide fumes from the furnace would have killed them.)

While Walt Kowalski was on the roof, I was in the attic handing him tools and taking bricks.  Looking back on this situation, I'm certain that if anybody walked by the house that afternoon they had to think he was nuts for standing on the roof talking to himself. 

 

My co-worker suggested we put an ad online and sell the bricks to make some profit. 

(Two summers ago he bought some used bricks online to make a mailbox.  A quick online search tells me that a 4" X 8" brick paver is 45 cents.  I remember him saying he had to make several trips each over an hour away to get these bricks.  Adding the cost of gas...buying used bricks couldn't have saved him much money. How big was this mailbox? Maybe it was a specific color that was difficult to find.  )

The bricks below are what normal bricks look like:

These were the bricks we got from the chimney: 

They crumbled the moment you picked them up.  We are lucky if we got a dozen full sized bricks. The attic portion of the chimney crumbled as soon as I touched it.  Nobody would have spent money on these bricks.

Besides, we had a plan for these bricks.  We are building a rip rap.  A rip rap?  I had never heard this term either.  Once I looked it up I knew what it was.  You would be most familiar with a rip rap if you've ever been to Twin Lakes.  The entire edge of the lake where water meets land is covered with rocks.  This is a rip rap.  In this case it is to prevent erosion.  We are using our rip rap as a foundation on soft ground for our gray water.

We are still working in the attic at this point.  Walt is still on the roof doing some repairs.  I was on brick removal.  He boarded over the hole, added tar paper, and shingles that were a very close match to the current roof.  The roof was replaced not too long ago, so that's one less thing we need to worry about right now.

 

We brought buckets to haul the bricks down the stairs.  However, once I loaded up the buckets, I couldn't carry them down the stairs.  It was easier for me to carry 5 bricks down in my arms and pile in them around the room. 

 

There is a flight of steps on to the front porch.

There is a flight of steps up to the second floor.

There is a flight of steps up to the attic.

(Not to mention, the ladder I had to climb to get to the top of the chimney on the second floor.)

 

To think before we got started for the day I said to Walt Kowalski 'Do you want to go to the gym before we go out to dinner?' HA!

 

 

 

Finally, we're through from the attic into the bedroom. The chimney was a little more stable inside the house because it was covered with plaster, paint, and wall paper. 

 

Here is an inside view.  It's not a very large chimney inside. 

Our first load I counted 161 bricks.  That was only one story of one chimney. I didn't count on the second and third loads. 

We are down (up) to the ceiling on the first floor.  Two stories left on one chimney. Two stories left on the other chimney. Only one flight of steps to get to the truck.