It doesn't look like much from this angle, but it was sure a lot of work. It ended up thirty feet tall with two flues. Used 48 concrete chimney blocks, and about 700 bricks and took me about 60 hours. Complete with the clean-out doors, thimbles, mortar, refractory cement; I think it cost a little over $1000.
Actually, being the mason was not that hard, but being the mason-tender was work. Hauling all this bricks and mortar up those ladders got pretty tiring, but I had to keep pushing to beat the rain & sleet this week. Here's a picture of it almost finished.
Looking good Perry, are you getting a new house? I thought you were retro installing the chimney into an older house.
I don't see them yet but I hope you planned on screens for the top. Birds tend to nest in the spring and all you will hear is the baby birds chirping. I helped my brother-in-law build a chimney years ago and that's the last one I plan on helping with. Yours turned out very nice.
Did you hide anything in the masonry for future generations to find?
> I don't see them yet but I hope you planned on screens for the top. Birds tend to nest in the spring and all you will hear is the baby birds chirping. I helped my brother-in-law build a chimney years ago and that's the last one I plan on helping with. Yours turned out very nice.
Never heard of putting screens on the top. We never had the problem with our chimney; but I suppose the near-constant wood fire in the stove tends to discourage nesting.
> Did you hide anything in the masonry for future generations to find?
Just my mistakes.
> Looking good Perry, are you getting a new house? I thought you were retro installing the chimney into an older house.
As I have only been surveying one or two days a week, I decided to build a house using my own lumber (from my sawmill) with all my free time. We will most likely sell it or rent it. My wife thinks we should move down there but I shudder at the thought of moving all my junk that has accumulated in 25 years at our existing house.
Will a New Chimney Cap Affect the Draft of Your Chimney?
A well designed cap will keep animals, rain, leaves and twigs out of your chimney as well as improve the up draft.
Not every year, several times before I put a ventilated cap on my flume, I would find a bird that had made it to my firebox and could not find its way out again.
We had a Racoon one year.
Did you hire Billy?
[flash width=640 height=385] http://www.youtube.com/v/dvzQo12I5Bk?fs=1&hl=en_US [/flash]
Dangerous posting by Perry
My wife is now asking me why I can't build a house in my spare time.
Dangerous posting by Perry
I tried, but there just isn't enough good large mesquite trees out here. Here's my best effort:
I suppose it beats living in a saguaro cactus like Snoopy's brother.
Laying block and brick isn't that hard at all.
BTW: a "mason-tender" is more properly known as a "hod carrier".
