The chimney has to go

Friday August 30th

The current project on the homeport is to remove the existing chimney and to patch the roof.  This was a daunting prospect for me because of the 45 degree slope of the roof and the sheer size and weight of the chimney itself.  This chimney is 18" in diameter, 15 feet high, and installed 38 years ago.  It can not be reused in this condition, and our plans for the house call for a gas heating stove in the living room- so it has to go.

My first surprise was to find out that I could not get a rental scaffold at any of the local rental yards- none, nada, zip.  I would have to drive to Roseburg or build my own.  

So build it was.  I still had some of the lumber I planned to use under the house for re-supporting the floor, so about $50 more at the lumber yard got me what I needed for a pretty decent scaffold.  The timing of this removal was planned around the arrival of my older bother Nick, and his wife Jill.

Saturday August 31st

With Nick's help it actually went pretty smoothly.

Turns out the chimney sections were pretty much rusted through and would have been very unsafe to use.

Nick helped us lower the scaffold to a height that would allow us to re-roof the area and to close up the hole for the night.

Monday September 1st

We had to wait until Labor Day to get the correct nails for the composition roofing- turns out that we needed 2-1/2" roofing nails to get through the insulation board and into the cedar roof planks.  None of the local building supply stores were open so Joan and I used this as an excuse to drive to Bandon for a shopping spree at Bandon Supply, and Hennnick's Hardware- two very good building supply stores.

Chimney- what chimney??    The previous owner of the house had a small stock of extra shingles from the re-roof done 6 years ago and Joan and I found a lot more underneath the wood pile, which luckily were in pretty good shape and we could clean up and use.

Nick brought down 3 large capacity hydraulic jacks that my other brother Thane is loaning me for the underfloor work- yeah mole man is still not done.  I got to a place where I could not get the floor to move back up into place and need the 20 ton jack that Thane is loaning me.

On Sunday, we all took a vacation for part of the day and played tourist with Nick and Jill.  Nick, Joan, and I, hiked the trails at the Port Orford Heads State Park and visited the Coast Guard Museum on the grounds of the old Coast Guard installation there.  We also drove out to Cape Blanco and toured the lighthouse, and the Hughes House.  The weather was very accommodating, with sunny blue skies and zephyr like breezes.  Maybe Nick and Jill will see the allure of the place we have chosen for a homeport.  We even had time for Nick and me to take out the row boat and see the lake at dusk.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Joan and I managed to get the new cabinets ordered for the kitchen.  We chose a web-based supplier called Kitchen Cabinet Kings, and ordered ready made, and pre-finished Shaker style cabinets to be delivered in 3-4 weeks.  That's what we need, a new project!

Your friends,

Jeff and Joan