The stone masons began their work in building the chimney.

They start in the basement in by creating a “wood-stove enclave” … which is basically an attractive area where one can place a wood-stove… something beyond a blank wall with a hole in it.

Originally posted 2015-07-06 16:03:30.

Originally posted 2015-06-23 15:52:30.

Here you can see the finished stone addition and the newly rebuilt chimney…

This is the back of the house… the area where we were invited to practice our craft… and now the most attractive side of the home…

Originally posted 2015-06-23 14:36:39.

Here’s my own fireplace… it got plenty of use this last winter.

Notice the stones that create the arch and how they rest on larger stones. This not only gives the arch a strong base upon which to stand, but it also creates a definitive visual starting and ending point for the arch.

Originally posted 2015-06-20 14:09:02.

Here we see a secret stone mason method of laying stone revealed today for the first time!…

Whenever possible lay stone while reaching out of a window! lol

BTW… the stone mason seen here is Will, one of three talented masons who worked on our team over the years. Will went on to become a priest within the Episcopalian church after leaving us…. I was never certain if that was a compliment to those of us with whom he had worked with… or a means of recovery and penance for having put up with us during those years. 🙂

Originally posted 2015-06-13 15:12:03.

I do appreciate good stonework.

I wish I could lay stone this well.

I know what makes good stonework… lay them flat… stagger the joints so they don’t align with the course below. Maintain a horizontal pattern. Rectangles are best, but an occasional oddity (run horizontally and not front and center) adds interest.

But, my attempts at laying rock has never turned out this well. I guess wood is my calling.

Originally posted 2015-06-13 14:48:29.

Here’s a photo of the re-built chimney.

i was tickled with the result.

I think it was a good call to take that leaning chimney down and build her back once again, better than before.

We did our best to rebuild her visually to look the same as she had been and to ensure that she matched the chimney at the other end of the house. And while in the process of doing that, we made upgrades to this chimney which should allow her to stand proud for a very long time… perhaps, forever.

Originally posted 2015-06-09 13:37:08.

Here you can see the chimney rising again, this time sitting on a much better footer. We also added in flue tiles and a damper to comply with building codes and make the chimney much safer to operate.

The old chimney came down very easily. In less than a day, one man rode her down with a digging bar prying the loose rocks free, one at a time, until he reached the ground.

The rocks were then cleaned and reused for the construction of the new chimney. We laid them in the same way, laid flat one upon another in horizontal layers.

Originally posted 2015-06-09 13:23:55.

The lean on this chimney was even more pronounced after we removed the siding from the house and exposed the logs long hidden beneath.

I told the owner of the home that one day that chimney was going to fall, that I didn’t know when, but when it happened it would be quick and I hoped that no one was killed when it happened. He had a real tough time making the decision for us to take this chimney down and rebuild it… after all, he had seen it standing there on the side of this home all his life. But now he was going to live here in this home, and, raise his children here, the chimney had to come down… on our terms.

Originally posted 2015-06-09 13:03:29.

The other chimney though had a distinct lean to it, likely caused by years or poor drainage on this side of the house.

I’ve heard it said before that one should always consider soil as a liquid, a very slow moving liquid.

Originally posted 2015-06-09 12:49:52.