God as My Witness, We Will Rebuild (the chimney)

Mason Randy and team just poured a giant amount of concrete into a hole where the former foundation used to be. This new chimney ain't going nowhere.  Also, the fireplace looks straighter already...


Next up: rebuilding the chimney and hearth.  But before that, a little background on the chimney discussion and how we got to where we are today:
 

Direct vent on the side of a house.

• Amy is super allergic to smoke and soot - she presented the idea of a gas insert instead of rebuilding the wood hearth (that way we don't even need to rebuild the chimney - we could vent it right outside -- savings!).
• Craig said "sure - one problem, though, when you take out the chimney, the house will be naked without siding and the chimney there to cover it.  The siding is old and we can't repair a hole without it looking like a giant zipper on the side of the house.  You can replace the siding so it matches, but you'd have to replace the siding on the entire south side of the house."  No savings there...
• Craig is has a solution, though: "we could build a faux chimney out of wood, cover it with faux brick and it'll be cheaper than a masonry chimney"
• this was actually our plan until we got a good price on rebuilding the chimney and the wood burning hearth so we're just going with that...  Amy's not thrilled about it, but there are some supporting viewpoints:

• I think gas inserts look like microwaves.  
• Friend Bob offered another benefit: it's good to be able to use an "analogue" fuel that can heat your home in case of gas/electricity service disruption. (e.g., a main break, storm, zombies, peak oil, socialism, fascism, end-of-days, 12-21-2012.)
• Craig maintains that a wood hearth is more "period".   And we're all about that...
• Having an old fashioned chimney will probably maintain the value of the house best.
• Theoretically, new fireplaces don't get as smokey or sooty as 100-year-old fireplaces...
• Getting the mason to do this and the other stuff (like demolishing the other chimney and fixing the foundation) makes the overall project a little cheaper.

"Vancouver used"

"Homestead Used"

"Mutual Used"

Randy Sprenger (Sprenger Masonry) is our mason.  We're getting bricks from Mutual Materials.  Should be picking out colors and styles soon.  We're leaning towards one of these:



"Used" just means they "look used".  They're new bricks with holes in them that will later be filled with rebar and mortar.






Also, I'm thinking gargoyles...

bleah.