So if it isn't one setback it will surely be another. Steve and Joel discovered this charred wood today behind the walls of the den right around where the fireplace sits. We were aware that there must have been a fire (outside of the fireplace!!) some time back because we could see singed areas on the outside of the house once we got the clapboards off. It is a little scary, though, to discover this "cover up" as it were because I have been hounding Joel and Lenny, our mason, to please get this fireplace back into working order as I would love to have real blazes in this room. Lenny has been saying that the chimney is not safe in its current condition. He recommends tearing it down and building a new, usable replacement. Joel would like Lenny to repoint the bricks, secure it safely, and insert a gas fireplace for our enjoyment. Well, this new development may change all of our lines of thought because the chimney in question is covering up a façade. As the next picture shows, the interior fireplace and the exterior chimney are separated by a space. That answers the question of why the chimney seems to be pulling away from the house. After the fire, the previous owners must have built the interior faux, rendering the fireplace essentially useless. Long story short, BOTH chimneys may have be torn down and a new, safe one erected and I may get my wish!! There may be something to that notion of a "silver lining."
The whole reason that the guys even launched into this chimney escapade was that when Steve was trying to jack up the west side of the house, he discovered that the main support had been severed to install a window which was now holding up the second story. That just can't be! Upon further inspection, it seems that not even the window was the support. Rather, it was this very small (charred on the backside) block of wood which was sitting atop the window that was holding the house up. Mind boggling. All the more reason to keep peeling back the layers of this old house to make things right again.
A bright spot in this roller coaster ride is the continued interest of friends who each have some tidbit of wisdom or interesting idea to share as I tour them through and lay out my design plans. Our friend Mitch's sister, Stacia, and her husband Jeffrey were in town for the weekend from Toronto. The guys were tied up at a golf tournament, and Karen was at a curling match, so Stacia and I got to spend Saturday together. Her furry niece Paisley tagged along. Although she claims to have no eye for room layout, Stacia certainly gave me solid advice which I plan to investigate further:)
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