With the season of long shadows and cool nights upon us, our thoughts are turning to warmth, specifically fire in the fireplaces! Our four fireplaces are all in the original house and we have restored the brick chimneys that had collapsed over time due to the original clay not being fired at a high enough temperature, most likely. Also, we dont think the original builders gave much thought as to whether the chimneys would last 200 years or not! All four fireplaces are working and woodburning, so with the cool evenings lately we are eager to get them fired up and working. We met last week with our general contractor Tripp Bowie to prioritize the remaining work and the fireplaces are high on the list. We need brick hearths installed in front of each one. We dont relish the idea of lighting a fire right in front of seasoned, heart pine floors without a brick hearth. We are going to use the remaining original brick salvaged from the old fireplaces to build the hearths with, similar to the brick surrounds. A second order of business is to get chimney caps so that rain and miscellaneous flying animals dont pay us a visit at unexpected times! We absolutely love the chimney caps at the Fambro House at Old Cahawba and want to duplicate those. They are made of copper, which is expensive, and we have gone back and forth between copper and a less expensive metal that can be painted. However, once we got an actual estimate of the cost from Mr. Fancher we realized there is not a huge difference in price. Also, the thought of never having to climb to the tops of the chimneys and paint the chimney cap is very appealing! Therefore, we are going with copper. Also, we are thrilled that he did the chimney caps for Eleanors grandparents (just down the drive way) and also for her parents in Selma. So, we are continuing the tradition. David had to climb into all four fireplaces to chip away some mortar that had fallend on the dampers and kept them from closing. With them all closed the house is much warmer. Lastly, we ran into our great neighbors who had made us a wonderful present of a cedar box with antler handles to carry kindling in! The timing of the gift was perfect. The inscription on the box from the Bible reads For they kindled a fire and made us all welcome. Truer words were never spoken and we hope the warmth of the restored fireplaces will be a source of welcome to all for years (and generations) to come!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:34:05 +0000
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