Taking Down a Chimney in Our Farmhouse Cottage
A major project was completed here at the farmhouse this week. A diy project that saved us $6400 just because we had the gumption to try and tackle it ourselves. With our own two hands, (and a chisel and hammer) Justin and I took down a chimney here in our farmhouse cottage.
Now, it should be noted that this chimney did not go above our roofline. The top sat perched in our attic, which makes it scary to think of anyone ever using it. Regardless, one day last week Justin created a larger ceiling access hole, grabbed a ladder, work light, and a few hand tools and got to work.
Day One
It was an 80 degree day here in Tennessee, hot and humid. Which meant the real temperature felt like it was in the low 90’s. And, if you’ve ever worked in an attic before, you know heat rises and the temperature could be as much as 30 degrees more.
Justin had a couple of 5 gallon buckets to collect the mortar (paste that binds the bricks together). And when it got too cramped on the plywood board he was standing on, he would remove the bricks from the attic by handing them to me, one at a time. After about 3 hours of continuing in this way, Justin called it quits because he was getting dizzy from the heat.
Day one ended right above the ceiling, and this motivated us to start day two.
Chimney Removal Day Two
Justin headed back up to the attic to get started on removing the bricks, and after about 20 minutes he had brought the chimney down below ceiling level. Now, it was my turn to lend a hand with the hammer and chisel.
Together, we removed the entire shaft of the chimney on Day Two. I would say this day was the most transformative because the changes we were making were visible. We were starting to get into a flow state – one of us would have the hammer, the other would move the bricks into the garage. And, once the buckets were full of mortar we would switch.
Day Three
We were hoping this would be the last day of our chimney removal project but we were mistaken. With this in mind, removing the iron/steel frame of the fireplace was the major goal of the day.
The face of the fireplace was kept in place with metal ties pushed into the mortar, and a concrete facade. It was a challenge to remove but, again we just used our simple hand tools to get the job done. We had to call it quits a bit early on this day, our bodies were tired and we had other responsibilities to tend to for the day. However, we felt very accomplished that we managed to get the chimney down to knee level. Or about 7 layers of bricks.
Chimney Removal Day Four
The final day! The day when Justin and I realized what a monster of a project we had taken on by ourselves. I guess it’s easier to notice when you can see just how far you have come. However, the lower the chimney got, the more taxing it was to remove each brick.
We were able to remove the last seven layers of brick within 2 hours. The chimney does continue into our basement area but we have decided to leave the structure for extra support. Right now, there is a huge gap where the chimney used to be. The bricks are below floor level, and we are dreaming of the transformation our little cottage will go through once we take on our next renovation project.
Next up, taking down a small shed in our backyard!
