13 Brick work chimneys

Brick work chimneys - 29 February / 12 March 2016

The strategy for taking both brick chimneys down was similar to that for the roof tiles.
I worked from a mobile scaffolding and a wheel barrow, hung at a winch from the ridge, was positioned at a convenient height for cleaning and stacking the bricks onto.

The mortar was soft and sandy and came off easily.
Only at the intersection with the Oamaru stone the mortar was cemented and very hard.
A lot of bricks came out of the chimneys and work progress was slow.

I needed time to think through a plan for deconstructing the fire places.
For this moment the fire places were reinforced and braced.

The marble fireplace surround at Bedroom 1 is taken off to avoid possible damage during deconstruction.
The marble surround is Victorian style and is deemed much older.
Most likely the surround is retrieved/reused from another building at the time of construction.
Like me, the Muschamps were reusing construction materials.

A lintel found in the chimney in the Dining room pointed out that there once must have been a large open fireplace or cast iron cole range in this room.
A much smaller wood burner with wet back (boiler in the cupboard next to it) was built in probably in the fifties / sixties.
The layer of tar in the Dining room chimney channel is by far the thickest of all four channels, indicating that this fireplace had been used for most of the time.
Could the Dining actually have been the Kitchen?