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... yup... a power outage... really...
Week from hell... both B and I have deadlines at work... B has the Chicago to Mackinac race this weekend... construction schedule is very tight... electrician starts Wednesday, and he's squeezing us in, so we can't push his start date... Jose and his crew still have to do a bit of tuckpointing on the interior, and finish furring, in some cases framing, the walls, so that the electrician has something to which to attach the conduit...
... so, of course, at 8:30am a storm front would have to blow thru, with winds of 85mph, knocking out power to over half a million homes in Chicago, including ours... and of course ComEd would continue to notify us all day that they don't have an estimated time for power to be restored... could be 12 hours... could be 48 hours... could be 72 hours...
Jose and his crew are returning tomorrow morning with a generator... and ass will have to be hauled in order to be ready Wednesday for the electrician...
The day was not lost... the sun came out and chimney master Giovanni showed up with his side kick Cesar, plus 2 other guys (who kept changing the subject when I asked them their names... should I be concerned???), and built a brand new masonry beauty...
... Giovanni constructed a little tent around the chimney, to (somewhat) help provide some shade... given it was about 95 degrees today on the street, it about 195 degrees on the roof...
... this is Cesar. He's my new best friend... he is the happiest man... he doesn't speak much english yet I managed to have a 30 minute conversation with him...
... he gave me a hug after they packed up and were ready to go... the man radiates happiness.
We still will have to add caps atop the chimney stacks... there are four total within that one chimney... two feed our house and two feed our neighbor's house... we'll deal with those in August (Giovanni is going on vacation for three weeks starting this Thursday... I want a three week vacation... ).
Given the power outage, plus a few other surprises, tweaks, and add-ons, the construction schedule has been revised a bit:
... still on track with completion date!
The floor joists are level and the new subfloor is in...
... the fireplace is partially installed... the gas line is in, and the framing is partially complete... tomorrow the firebox will be hooked up to the gas... burner will be installed once the dusty work is complete (drywall and wood floor installation).
View looking east... look at that new subfloor...
... I kind of like the living room without the vestibule... it seems SO much larger and more open.
Unfortunately, we kind of need the vestibule... even though we will be refinishing the front door, its insulation value is not, nor will be, that of a new door... and we can't afford a new door (given shape and size, the door would have to be custom made... estimates came in ranging from $8K to $15K... yes, you read that correctly)... so...
In addition, we have the Charlevoix factor... she turns into Cujo when the mailman drops the post thru the mail slot... the closed off vestibule keeps her away from the mail slot and away from the mailman's hands...
Finally, the vestibule niche will provide a small area in which we can hang coats and deposit shoes...
... so, the vestibule stays...
SO... you know how I previously mentioned our concern about that possibly collapsed chimney, due to the debris we found in the demolished fireplace? Well, since the fireplace guy was at the house, installing the fireplace, I had him take a look at the chimney...
The good news was no collapse occured during demolition.
The bad news... the chimney was about to collapse due to age and water infiltration...
... this explains why we were getting water damage down the furnace flue stack and all that salt residue/corrosion on the basement masonry wall...
... could remove chunks by hand... very ugly situation indeed...
... see that bubbling? It's buckling...
B was working on the boat, so I gave him a call with the news... he didn't believe me at first, but after I emailed the photos to him, he called back and with a quiet, somber voice sighed, "... we need to rebuild the thing... sh*%."
The chimney sub took pity on us and gave us a bit of a price break (I think this may be because while at our house, he got some additional work on our neighbors house... turns out she has a tree growing out of her chimney/parapet... I kind of felt better after hearing that news... does that make me a bad person???).
Old chimney has been knocked down and the new one is being built tomorrow....
I have a feeling this isn't the end of the chimney drama... we will have to have the furnace guy inspect the flue/liner... do I dare be optimistic and hope for the best? I'm guessing no...
... and you wonder how I became so cynical....
