Hello all! To start the heat index was over 100 degrees for all but one of the 14 days and at least three of the days were over 110 and that it rained, thundered, and was completely awesome. The Rockhouse has more sweat equity than any endeavor Frank or I have ever taken on, that is for sure. We would like to start with those who helped out, because without their help, support, great spirits and tons of laughs, this phase of the Rockhouse remodel would not been the success that it is and you all have our sincerest thank you. Carter Aldridge, my close friend Bill’s son, was our 17 year old, guardian, go-fer, voice recorder, memory, and hard working friend for the entire two weeks and definitely deserves a special thank you. My brother Nathan, August Wasilowski, Brandon Tilton, Eric Miller, Ines (regretfully we didn’t get your last name), and Bryant McDonnell were also very instrumental in the effort. Between the bunch of them: 8 tons of brick, mortar, and concrete were removed, electrical wires relocated to allow for new drywall (Eric and Carter’s sufferfest), the Rockhouse stayed a bit cleaner and everyone gave great input throughout. Also, thanks to all the members of the community and climbing community that stopped by and wished us well. We are going to do our very best to be a great addition to an already outstanding community.
So we first started with a bit of demo. And that may be one of the greatest understatements that I’ve ever uttered. The chimney that we took down was built as though gold bars or the secrets to the universe were being held inside for safe keeping. Instead of taking a day, which it would have if it was built more traditionally, it took three days and set us back a bit. The debris filled a 30 yard dumpster 3 1/2 feet deep and weighed in at about 6-8tons. And along with the chimney we had to remove a section of cinder block wall on the interior of the building. Here are a couple picks of the demolition of it.
Here’s Nathan going to work on the cinder block wall.
Frank rocking the chimney with a whole bunch of effort and a 10lb sledge.
And now getting it off the roof in proper fashion.
So that was the beginning. Just like an iceberg, the majority of the size and weight lied beneath.
Frank surveying the structural integrity of the behemoth.
And my brother Nathan venting a bit and getting a heck of a workout as the chimney holds it’s own…for a while.
Once it was sufficiently weakened, we tied a trusty old static line around the highest part we could safely reach and pulled it down….and Frank used his ninja running skills to get the heck out of the way. I really enjoy the large image where Frank is sporting a giant smile at the final felling of the chimney and getting to run from it while it was falling. Awesome.
Once toppled the chimney and some of it’s interesting finds inside (see the Natural Light mortar job below) were moved outside so we had space to work on the inside. Since the dumpster was not part of the original plan (a trailer that was overloaded and collapsed was) it was still a couple days from arriving, so we had the pleasure of moving all the debris twice! I mean who wouldn’t want to move 12 tons instead of 6?!?!?
Frank showing the addition of a Natural Light can to the mortar; for strength no doubt. This was just one of many.
Carter and the beginning of the debris.
Getting it in the dumpster….and it’s 105 degrees. Good times.
Frank cross-training by getting the blocks all the way to the back of the dumpster.
Well, I’m going to stop this post here as it’s already long enough and after we cleaned up the debris and got everything cleaned up inside we went to work redoing some walls, ceilings, rafter systems and then the roof and skylights. I’ll get that post up soon. For now, enjoy the day and we’ll see you all again soon.
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