Chimney

Yesterday the time came to start chimney demolition. I honestly thought this was going to be easy, which is why I told the builders not to bother about quoting for it. A days work , weekend at the most, and it would be done.

How wrong can you be. The first picture below shows how it looked at the start. The second picture, how it looks after 4 hours work with a club hammer and bolster. Not what you would call wildly fast progress is it ?

Chimney Before

Chimney After 4 Hours Bashing

Indoors there is a stone hearth and chimney piece constructed out of the same materials at the same time. When we moved in I had to remove part of this in order to fit a bookcase into the adjacent alcove. It was easy. A couple of taps with a hammer and bolster and it fell apart. I thought the stack would be the same. However, working at the top of a ladder is much more difficult, and the cement is MUCH harder outside.

I started out with a 3 inch wide bolster and it took about an hour to get out the first stone. Switching to a narrower bolster (1 inch) made things quicker. I guess the concentrated "whack" over a smaller area actually sends a bigger shock wave through the mortar, causing it to crack that bit easier.

Whether I am going to be able to complete this prior to groundworks arriving on-site is up for debate. Watch this space.