Progress Hybrid Install A Long Time Coming

[Berner]

It all started two years ago when my wife and I bought our first house and wanted wood heat.


The house we bought had a nice setup but was in rough shape from the top down.



The previous owner had let a bunch of vines grow that covered the chimney all the way to the top. The bottom root was 2 inches thick. The vines kept the sun out and the moisture in. Unfortunately there was a lot of repointing work that needed to be done. The chimney was also pulling away from the house.



Next thing I wanted to check on was the Terracotta flue tiles. I propped a ladder up on the roof and took off the concrete rain cap. The 2" thick cap took little effort to chip off but a lot of effort to throw off the top. During the process of rocking the cap off I felt the whole chimney sway back and forth, pivoting at the roof line. This is where it was decided a rebuild was going to be necessary.


The inside wasn't much better. There were gaping holes in the firebox that were stuffed with backer rod. The bricks had seen extensive water damage and were covered with many layers of paint. The Lintel was also sagging and needed some help.



Sadly things got even worse the farther down we went. The marble tile was cracked and the concrete hearth was crumbling and falling through the forms that supported it underneath. Below that the framing had a header that wasn't supported properly, cracked floor joists and a support beam that was held up by temporary jacks.




My old man came by to help with the grunt work and together we got to work building from the ground up.


We cut open the basement slab, dug some holes, placed new footings and installed new lally columns.






Then we tackled the framing. First we reinforced the hearth forms with 3/4" plywood that was supported by a 2x6 pressure treated anchored into the foundation wall. The plywood also ran into a new double 2x10 header ripped to match the old lumber. We also sistered the floor joists on either side of the header with more ripped 2x10's. One more sistering job to the floor joist in the middle that was cracked and I'm now confident that the underside can support the new 700lb rock.



With the basement ready to roll the real fun begins upstairs. Look for part two coming soon.

 

[BrotherBart]

You know you seriously want to be a wood burner if...

 

[Berner]

Part two starts with a grapple truck load. I know there is a lot of work left to be done but time is always an important part to seasoning.


After a few weeks of working the pile I turned it all into something that is useful.



All good things start with a sledge hammer. We took off the bookshelves, plaster, and insulation and wound up with a living room that looked like this.



The surprises don't stop as there was an extensive amount of rot in the sheathing, studs and sills.


From here I turned it over to the professionals. The next day mason Jim and his team came in and started the real work. First he demolished the concrete hearth, legs, firebox and header. We were left with something that you don't get to see everyday.



We decided if he took off the smoke chamber there was a good chance that we could meet the clearance to combustibles without ripping up the floor and coming out into the room any farther. He was a little nervous about doing this because there wasn't much supporting the chimney above the smoke chamber. It was gamble worth taking. Besides the way things had been going we were due for some good luck.


All things considering it went pretty well. Nothing collapsed and Jim was able to pour a new hearth.

Outside things were coming down as well. The idea was to bring it down to 1 ft or so below the roofline and rebuild up from there.



With the bricks ready to be placed and the chimney ready for rebuild part three is where it all comes together.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Nice work.

 

[Beer Belly]

Love an ol' stone Chimney

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Berner, if you knew all this was coming, would you still do it again? Looks like you are doing it right now anyway and congratulations to you.

 

[Jags]

That is stepping up to the plate. Nice. I love to see a job done "well".

 

[Berner]

Berner, if you knew all this was coming, would you still do it again? Looks like you are doing it right now anyway and congratulations to you.

WIthout a doubt. Some think I'm nuts (no one on this forum) but the neighbors, friends and some in laws think it's crazy. I can't look at something in my house thats broken and not fix it. Granted I still have and probably always will have a long to do list but I enjoy hacking things open and figuring out how to put them back together. Plus my wife and I knew that we wanted to burn wood no matter how much work needed to be done.

 

[Berner]

Part III is where Jim starts laying some brick and I get a glimpse of whats to come.



Getting excited.



Placed some concrete and called it a day.



With things coming together at the house the wife and I packed up the kids and took a ride to NH. Here is where the little guy picked out his first stove. He also got to know how heavy that load door is. Don't think he will make the mistake of pinching his fingers again.



It was like a kid in a candy store.



Even got to go into the secret lab where they were testing their new stove. Now old news but pretty cool to see that beast in action. Sorry no photography allowed but you all know what it looks like now anyways.

The kids were being good so we even got to stop at a salvage yard and pick out our new mantel.

Skipped a couple of days but Jim finished the outside and I got to go back to work stripping rotted clapboards, sheathing, studs, sills and windows. When it was all said and done I don't know how the house was standing. There was a good section of about 10' that wasn't supported by anything but tooth picks for studs. I hesitated to take the windows out, they are original and like everything else in that area they were rotted. But like everything else if its rotted its getting fixed. We took those out replaced the sills and some of the casing. Some new sills, studs, sheathing, waterproofing and clapboards and we were looking pretty outside.




Put some insulation in, through up some drywall and the inside is missing just one thing.

Looks like I've reached my picture limit again. Part IV coming soon.

 

[jdonna]

Wow, hats off to you. That is one daunting task that you had! You will appreciate every log you put in that stove for years to come with a smile.

 

[Redlegs]

Done RIGHT!
Good Job!

 

[vwmike]

Wow! I'm impressed and a little jealous.....

 

[Parallax]

Very impressive.

 

[stayfitz]

Fantastic work! Really like the documentation! Thank you for sharing

 

[weatherguy]

Looking forward to the final act, it's going to like nice in there.

 

[charger4406]

You can take pride in a job well done ! beautiful work .

 

[DBoon]

Love the river rock stone chimney - fits right with that era and type of house. I'm glad you saved it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That whole house will be a thing of beauty when he is done, or if he ever gets done. lol

 

[toddnic]

Looking great! You are going to love that PH. It is an amazing stove!

 

[Berner]

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm really just trying to post this for others to maybe learn something from. I can't tell you how many hours I poured over this website looking at pictures installs and everything else. It's the least I can do to try and give something back.