The firebox is in

This week we've had the electrician rewiring the old part of the house. We have new power points in places that make sense, new lights that work and a smoke detector in the hallway.

Bob also came out to install the fireplace but as you can see was unable to finish the job properly. The chimney needs to be repointed and some height added. Bob pulled down two layers of bricks and was unable to secure the top chimney plate and cap. We're making changes to the roofline before we submit the plans to council, but the race is now on to get things happening.

As the electrician was here at the same time as the fireplace installer they managed to sort out how to wire in the power for the fan. Rather than run an intrusive cable across the front of our fireplace, we have it all hidden in the brickwork. I'm not sure why, but there's a void adjacent to the chimney so power runs through it with a junction box in the roof.

So how awesome is this? I think it's beautiful even though it looks nowhere near finished. It's also a bloody huge firebox. Oh I just can't stop thinking about how fabulous it's going to be when lit either.

From the top

The most fabulous feature of our roofline are the two chimneys visible from the street.

One will be removed and the remaining fixed above the roof line. Unsurprisingly the best one is confirmed as being pulled down as soon as we can get to it. The builder has advised that he won't be volunteering for the job as it's messy and difficult work.

They're in a fairly sad state of disrepair, and clearly need repointing. I'm not sure what that gawdy concrete stuff is about. Perhaps a failed attempt at rendering?

That's a picture of the chimney interior. Two of the current chimneys are doubles with entirely separate chimneys on each side of a divider.

I've got a brand new pair of Dunlop Volleys so I can climb up there with less fear. I'll be repointing that chimney at first opportunity.

So 2005!

Building the fireplace Mk2

The fireplace insert arrived on Wednesday. It had to be unpacked to move it off the truck and so sat on the footpath for most of the day.

 Buster placed the packing box over it as he was nervous about rain. 

Here are the chimney plates and flue in their packaging.

I appointed myself Charlie's labourer and was no doubt the slowest worker he's ever had. Buster managed to carry more bricks by hand than I could manage with the wagon. Must get fit soon.

Charlie is very precise with his work and has an eye for detail that I picked up on when I visited his house that he's been renovating around the corner. It just happens to be amongst one of the better looking houses in town and is a gorgeous weatherboard with wrap around verandah.

I didn't realise we'd need a new lintel. This is the second angled lintel I've picked up in as many days and it's a 25km trip to the hardware store, so for us it pays to be more organised. I had thought that the lintel that came from the old fireplace was enough but it was far too small.

Charlie keeps mentioning tips and tricks to assist what we're planning and we've quickly realised that he's worth having around. So I've asked him to help me project manage the build. He's come up with a much better suggestion for the roof line, so I hope he sticks around long enough to see it finished.

I can't believe how excited I am about this unfinished fireplace. It's a work of art.

From every angle....

I really love it, despite it being so bland and unfinished. Oh and I just found a before pic of the fireplace.

It doesn't look so bad here, but it really was awful in the 40s style of the reno. And besides the hearth needed repairing and I really need to justify all the work involved.

So next up we have to install the firebox. Here are the details....

HEAT CHARM I600 INBUILT

CAPACITY (squares)........ 30 

FIREBOX HEIGHT mm......... 600 

FIREBOX WIDTH mm ........730 

FIREBOX DEPTH mm ........470 

FASCIA HEIGHT mm........ 730 

FASCIA WIDTH mm........ 1110 

FASCIA DEPTH mm......... 60 

WEIGHT kg - 180kg

FAN SPEED........ 3 speed 

EMISSION RATING g/k .......2.0 

FASCIA REAR TO SPIGOT CENTRE mm........285

MINIMUM CLEARANCES TO MANTLE mm - 

MINIMUM CLEARANCES TO UPRIGHTS mm - 

FIREBOX THICKNESS mm........ 5 

FIREBOX TYPE....... Steel 

BAFFLE TYPE .........Cast 

BAFFLE THICKNESS mm ........10 

LINERS TYPE........ Cast Opt. 

FIREBOX WARRANTY ..........10 Years

Building the fireplace

The fireplace insert is at the local freight depot and will be here early tomorrow. I can't recommend Dixonline highly enough. They're near Wollongong and have arranged to freight our heater to us. It's a genuine family owned company run by Sean and his father. Sean is a builder so can answer almost any question we can throw his way.

Today Charlie the builder dropped in to measure up the fireplace in preparation for bricking the surround. The line drawn on the floor is where the brickwork will be finishing. 

He had a concern that we may have to brick onto the flooring, which with movement would cause damage down the track. Apparently the existing hearth is a foundation structure and separate to the floor. I'm so glad that Charlie thought of this as it's not something that even crossed my mind, but we already have a problem with the floor being uneven.

In the south east corner of the lounge the floor has dropped about 10cm. Apologies for the shocking pic but just to give you an idea of the extent of our problem. This needs to be repaired to stop draughts but no one wants to crawl under the house to do it.

To get around the problem of the new fireplace being damaged, Charlie will cut cement sheeting to sit on top of the existing fireplace. This will create a stable bed for the brickwork and prevent damage once the floors are lifted.

So the fireplace is ready to go. Thank god I've asked Charlie to do this as I would never have thought about movement in the floorboards and my DIY would have cracked and fallen down.

I ordered half a pallet of bricks from the supplier and ordered the wrong cement mix. I started off by asking for pre mix which is a concreting mix. So the phone call started off all wrong. What I wanted was sand and cement. When it arrived I realised that we already had this stuff and it wasn't what Charlie wanted. He had asked me to buy a quarter scoop of sand and two bags of cement. Next time I will listen.

Walter keeping a keen eye on the bricks.

The madness, it hurts

So we've pulled apart the fireplace in  the lounge room. Every single brick removed by hand... It was incredibly messy work but not too difficult. Thing is, now we have to brick it up again.

Yes we are the nutty renovators, who do EVERYTHING in the most difficult, ridiculous way possible.

Don't laugh too hard, there's work to be done...

via apartmenttherapy.com

I swoon when I think of living in this space. No messy ash, no dirty soot. Dust free and care free. I would love to have a room like this right now...

I also often think this could be the easy solution to renovating our fireplace. Just clean it up and paint it in a crisp white. Stack it with firewood as a feature and then never have to worry about it again.

Problem is we need heating and that just won't cut it.

via odhnerandodhner.com

I was thinking this look could really work in our space. Very little work. Simple and classic. Very little work. It's completely different to what we've decided on (and it would be very little work), but this image will remain an inspiration if our plan doesn't work out. The plan that involves quite a lot of work.

Love that armchair with the chaise. I'm sure IKEA have one in a very similar style.

via luxury-modern-interior-decors.blogspot.com

How sophisticated is this space? It wouldn't work at all in our current reno but is very much what I love. Clean, simple lines and no clutter. That room suits my temperament. It's just a bit too dark for my taste.

Anyway, back to work. There are bricks to be ordered and a mantle to be built. 

Anyone have any great images of nice looking mantles? 

I'm thinking they're a rarity.

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.

This blogging thing isn't as regular as I'd hoped

We've settled into winter here and despite Buster's best efforts at repairing the rusty old wood heater, there are too many draughts in the pink house. Today is a particularly icy 4C in the kitchen. We're burning way too much wood which is a shame as it's such good quality. I found a secret stash of free firewood on another of my foraging trips and we're keeping the poo room filled. It makes a great wood storage area which is close to the house, but far enough away to keep out spiders and all the unknown bug things that live in felled trees.

Buster is away in Goulburn for the next 3 weeks so we'll see if I can "hire a hubby" to help raise the floors and draught proof the house. I also think it's time that I posted our drawings as they've been finished for months. Just not sure yet how to do it.