. No hurry, just by early to middle of next week. Are you taking care of it, or my guys?" Yikes!! Well, fortunately, delays in getting cement and prep for the inside piers and porch piers, they didn't need them until Tuesday and Wednesday. But Chris showed up at lunch on Monday to assess the job (and was then distracted by the state of the framing for windows). So Chris headed over first thing in the morning on Tuesday to start sorting and cleaning the bricks from the 2 chimneys. It was relatively easy. . . most of the mortar was decayed enough that it was more like caked on sand, so a hard scraper and wire brush did the job. Then Greg Bolton showed up just after lunch, mostly to laugh at Chris, but then he felt guilty and asked for another pair of gloves. Then Larisa and the boys showed up. Professional stackers by training, Lukas also thought using the scraper was really helpful. Kai and Lukas each made $1 for jobs well done. (No need to comment on child labor laws. ;-) ). Everyone covered with old mortar dust and some soot, Danny the mason had plenty to finish the job (though he did have to dig into the older bricks from the first chimney we dropped back in 2005). Fortunately, there are still plenty left for the front walk path, and the outdoor kitchen (Phase II)!
Happy Holidays, everyone!
The first picture is after Chris' efforts until about 10:30 am.
