Chimney is gone!

Today we had the chimney removed from our house. It was in bad shape, plus we didn't need it anymore since the new furnace and water heater now vent out the side of the house.We also need any additional floor space we can muster.

They started from the top, removing brick by brick, picking each out one of the old mortar the consistency of crusty sand. There were two guys who did the job - one was inside the chimney removing bricks and dropping them down the chimney, and the other was in the basement, waiting by a large hole they punched in the bottom to haul the bricks out the basement door. Dirty job, yes.

The old chimmey

Future laundry chute?

Oil stove ash four feet deep inside the chimney!

What chimney?

Fortunately, we had moved nearly everything out of the basement into a storage unit at the suggestion of our friend who said her chimney project was like "Mount Vesuvius." The dust was minimal.

American Chimney and Masonry did a good job.

Next up: seismic retrofit next week. Stay tuned!