Ottertail Country

Ottertail Country
Ottertail South

August 22, 2011

More August fun & games......

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We took out the fireplace.  Here is the aftermath of the lowering a removal of the parts.  Those are some really handy miniature chain hoists that I was able to borrow from work.  They made the task fairly easy.




Fortunately, there were some little steel rings welded to the chimney and we just tied the hoists to those rings.




This is the welded steel base that sat on top of the stonework.  It held the glass fireplace doors and glass panels, and the hood was sitting atop this structure.





This is the heat exchanger that was built into the hood.  It was heavy and we had some difficulty getting it out of the hood.




So here is the base after the removal of all the upper parts. Quite a nice bit of rock work, we were hesitant about taking it out.  But the install of the masonry heater, and the even heat it will provide has overshadowed the doubts.  No more chances of chimney fires, either. 




Before we started the demolition of the base, I hung some plastic sheeting in the shape of a small room surrounding the base.




From the living room.




And from above.  Yes, it had a plastic ceiling....




All this sheeting followed out the front entry way, where a box fan stood blowing out the front door.  This worked really well, as 99% (I'm guessing) went out the door.







The end of the first rough clean-up.




There's that nifty trailer again.  I'm guessing we hauled out about three loads of stone, mortar, iron and tools and supplies.  It works much nicer than a wheelbarrow.






Here's what it looks like right now.  We're hoping to be able to fill in around the new heater in such a way as to be able to preserve all the small, epoxied stone on the floor.










Paul, Candice and kids were up  a while back, before we tore out the fireplace.  We settled on the size and shape of the new heater, and what we wanted the outside of it to look like.  I didn't take many photos while there were here, but I got a few.




Peggy got a custom braiding job, and I must say it turned out quite nice.





Henry climbing on the stairs?  Who would have thought....
We had a great visit and we hope to see them again soon.
Well, that's about it for now, I have more stuff to post, but it will have to wait for a few day.

I gotta go, Carlo......



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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW... the A-frame is shaping up! Looking good... loving seeing all of the progress and updates you are making. Alot of work, but, will be worth it in the end.

Litzy said...

Wow indeed! I can't wait to see the masonry heater!! How did you get that base out? Did you just use a sledge or did you have tools for that? Seems a lot of work...!!! Yikes!

Hoping we can visit my dad in Sept, and if we do, I'd love to come see the place!!

Carlo said...

Anonymous, who you be?

Hey, Litzy, you can stop in anytime. As for the base, we used both a sledge hammer and a heavy duty hammer drill (the drill did most of the work). Ivan and I got most of it out in one evening, I finished up the last little bottom stuff in about an hour the next day.

Melissa Janda said...

Fun to still see kids hanging from those stairs. Lord knows there's been a lot of swinging & climbing over the years. And bumping of heads too...
interested to see what your new heater will look like there. Glad you can keep the rock floor!

Anonymous said...

Wow - that looks like it was a lot of work!!!! It will be neat seeing the new mason heater installed!

I'm sure Aunt Peg enjoyed having her own hair stylist - she deserves to get pampered :-)

Kristi

Anonymous said...

Impressive!!! You would think you both didn't already work full time! I'm glad that rock base/floor will still be there, can't wait to see what the heater will look like :)Thanks for the updating!! ~Rosie