Not a question many people get to ask I'm sure, but as top of the jobs list was remove old fire place and replace with something that is better looking and more functional, Noel took to the roof to check no goblins were up to naughtiness thus ensuring the job went smoothly. Well almost.
As ever things never go quite to plan, so my idea to smash old fireplace out and chuck some muck around, smooth it off jobs a good un soon ran into technical difficulties so I prudently delayed creating havoc and probably a large chimney shaped hole in roof, bedroom floor, lounge ceiling and floor and waited for the expert. Pritch (not Noel, he's not really a builder in his spare time) soon made short work of the nasty stone work while I was a gopher. So I made short work of going for teas, coffees, bacon sarnies, donuts, and other consumables necessary for building, while taking out rubble, stone, and climbing onto roof to take forgotten torch to not Noel. I also fed the critters, minded the dogs and took the gates (heavy metal variety) up the Bonsai Mountain ready for installation next week. Its been a busy day really.
The pics above tell the story, what you cant see is the concrete lintel we removed turned out to be a gatepost, tapered, so the brickwork was also tapered.
The bottom row centre shows Pritch valiantly trying to hold back a ton of vermiculite (or some other spelling) its an insulation material used to fill cavernous spaces like chimneys. At this point I should have stepped in to rescue him but I was too busy photographing and texting the pic to he who cant be named with an assortment of rude comments. Only when Pritch threatened let go and fill lounge with the grotty stuff did I step in with a poorly constructed bin bag and after 20 were filled we were able to breath again (dust!) and get back on schedule. Bottom left is how I was left, bottom right is how Pritch will find it tomorrow prepped for plastering. Under all the paint and paper I found the sooty outline of two candle holders and a shield sword thingy.
1 comment:
Humm, this old cottage we have bought has the original rectangle of stone thick walls and at each gable end there is supposed to be a fireplace (covered over with the new plasterboard etc.) We were tinkering with trying to open them up and even if not used for an actual fire, just to have as they so fetching call nowadays, a 'feature'. We may have another think!
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