The first big project we tackled in the house was removing the non-functional, painted-red brick fireplace. It was awkwardly big, taking up a whole corner in our very small living/dining room, and the chimney had at some point been removed above the first floor level, which meant the roof was patched and the bricks just straight up ended in the attic. Not so safe for fire-building. The bricks had probably been beautiful at some point, but over the years some idiot painted them RED, so it looked really fake and garish. We knew the fireplace was nonstructural, basically a big shaft in the middle of the house, so we watched some YouTube videos, checked our Rainier supplies, borrowed some tools from Joel's parents, and got to work.
[Sidenote: we did end up removing some structural elements in the house, which we definitely did after we consulted with an engineer. I've heard of some fireplaces being structural, but since our attic and basement are both unfinished, we could see that no joists tied into the main brick shaft. Basically, don't tear your chimney out until you're positive nothing else in your house is being supported by it.]
Our chimney removal took two long days and was really straightforward. This is MESSY work, so we specifically undertook it before we moved anything into the house, and even then, we taped off the room to minimize the dust. This is do-able if you already live in your house, but you're going to want to move everything out of the room and tape the doorways off like whoa.
Our chimney removal took two long days and was really straightforward. This is MESSY work, so we specifically undertook it before we moved anything into the house, and even then, we taped off the room to minimize the dust. This is do-able if you already live in your house, but you're going to want to move everything out of the room and tape the doorways off like whoa.
First off - since the fireplace was angled in a corner, we had an idea that the bricks didn't extend solidly back to the wall all the way to the ceiling. See the size of the firebox in this photo? That gave us an idea of the size of the chimney flue, the opening that allows the smoke to rise through the chimney and to the great outdoors. We could also see the top of the flue in the attic, so we guessed that the extra brick on both sides of the firebox ended at mantel height, aka that there was dead space back in that corner. So we sledged through the lathe and plaster and thankgod we were right.
See the broken-up flue right near Joel's left hand, where the interior is all black and sooty? That's all of the chimney that extended up past the mantel height. (Ugh also - please excuse how bad some of these photos are.) From then on, it was a simple but exhausting top/down removal. One of us would work on chipping the mortar and removing the bricks, and the other would carry bucket after bucket of bricks out to the garage (where they sat for two damn years - after this weekend, I never wanted to touch a brick again).
Sometimes we used a hammer drill to break up the mortar, which was my first real foray into big-girl tools.
PS don't wear Toms while you're demoing your house. I am an idiot and did so long enough to sustain two nail-in-the-foot injuries + a call to the doctor to check on my tetanus shot status, so don't be dumb like me. Also, maybe wear your safety googles over your eyes instead of on top of your head? Just a suggestion.
PS don't wear Toms while you're demoing your house. I am an idiot and did so long enough to sustain two nail-in-the-foot injuries + a call to the doctor to check on my tetanus shot status, so don't be dumb like me. Also, maybe wear your safety googles over your eyes instead of on top of your head? Just a suggestion.
By the end of Day One, we had removed the bricks through the first floor and sledged out the existing tile hearth. Heyyyy basement! We think the house's original kitchen stove was on the other side of this wall, hence the pipe you can see near the ceiling that tied into the flue. Fun fact: that 'pipe' was actually an extremely old coffee can with its bottom punched out (which we kept, duh).
The chimney structure that extends to the basement floor is basically just there to support the bricks above it, so that was next to go. About 100 years of old ash and roofing materials were hiding in that shaft, so the basement-level removal was especially messy. Two days after we'd gotten the keys to the house, our chimney was gonzo:
The chimney structure that extends to the basement floor is basically just there to support the bricks above it, so that was next to go. About 100 years of old ash and roofing materials were hiding in that shaft, so the basement-level removal was especially messy. Two days after we'd gotten the keys to the house, our chimney was gonzo:
So then we were left with gaping holes in our ceiling and floor. We got a plan to patch the ceiling and floor joists (the 'ribs' that hold up your ceiling drywall and subloor) from our structural engineer. That involved sistering the joists above and below according to the professional specs and then doing some pythagorean theorizing to cover up the wonky-sized hole in the floor with plywood. We hired a drywall guy to clean up the walls and patch the ceiling and we ultimately went from this:
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To this:
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Spoiler alert! We also removed the wall that separated the main living/dining room from the front bedroom and gutted the bathroom.
Because I know pretty pictures are the best part of every before/after, this is what that former fireplace corner looked like later in the summer of 2013, after we'd moved in.
Because I know pretty pictures are the best part of every before/after, this is what that former fireplace corner looked like later in the summer of 2013, after we'd moved in.
And this is what it looks like today (more spoilers - we remodeled the kitchen and swapped out some furniture).
So that was project one! List-lover that I am, my next post will tour the 'before' house step by step to show what projects I knew we needed to complete before move-in, four weeks after we closed. One more spoiler alert: hilarity at our ignorance ensues. Thanks for following along! xo
