Back to basics

I've demolished the fireplace surround as the heater is on its way. The brick surround was removed entirely by hand using a hammer and chisel. Note the crack in the render that I created quite soon into the job?

I was a tad nervous that Buster might become upset at my destructive tendencies, and so I considered covering up the crack with a cardboard box until I could remedy the damage. Apparently it was caused by starting the demolition in the middle of the fireplace, as opposed to the edge. He's very good at offering advice from the sidelines.

This pic is about as before as I had on the camera. A search of my archives is out of the question right now as we have been capped and are struggling along on dial up speeds for the next three days. It's amazing how quickly you adjust to slower internet. 

We had ADSL2 at our previous house and took the speeds for granted. When we moved here, ADSL2 wasn't available, in fact Telstra even told us we will never have it in this area as our little village is too small. We quickly got used to ADSL, and most months we don't have a problem with our cap as Buster usually keeps a close eye on it. Technology being his domain until recently, meant that I never bothered monitoring it, but not having television has meant I've been streaming Four Corners and Farmer Wants a Wife. Yes my taste in television is contradictory but I love the discomfort of FWAW. Ordinary people trying to do ordinary things, with cameras around.

So, thanks to my low brow penchant for trash TV, we find ourselves in internet Siberia where uploading photos and video via dial up is hardly worth bothering with. I think I've now adequately demonstrated my committment to regular blogging.

Look at how skinny that lintel is! I was expecting it to be much larger to support the weight of the bricks above. I am clearly not an engineer.

So I continued on while Buster offered "advice" from the sidelines. All talk and no action causes me to be grumpy though, especially when the expert is literally standing at my shoulder ordering me around, so I cheerfully requested that he cease and desist. 

What I lack in skill, I make up for in enthusiasm. My lack of skill is causing him endless frustration made easier by the joy he gets from laughing at me.

I've fallen in love with the old brickwork. Initially I had wanted an open fire in this room for ambiance, with the main heater to be in the back. For two days Buster and I have been uming and ahing about leaving this fireplace in it's original state. I've trawled around for a fire grate and ash pan and we can get one easily enough, the problem is the heater we've ordered is arriving any day. We've had parts custom made to fit into the existing chimney, plus it's an insert, so must be installed into an existing fireplace. We do have two other fireplaces, but they will all be in bedrooms when the house is completed which doesn't work for us. We might be able to install the new heater zero clearance, but I'm sure that requires purchasing an extra kit, so we will think about it some more overnight. The budget really doesn't allow for such extravagant deviations.

Right now it's 6C in our lounge at 6:40pm. That's a slight improvement from 12:30 today when it was 4.5C.