He Floats Through the Air

Taking down the chimney was one thing.  We figured out ways of removing it so we didn't have to climb on the roof, balancing our aging bodies high above the ground.  Even though it was a big job, we found ways of doing it without feeling like we were risking our lives.  And now, the chimney is gone.

But the Walnut Street house also had two large vent stacks on the south side.  There was one for the heater in the dining room on each floor, and the stacks were HEAVY - terra cotta flue pipe wrapped in tin.

Initially, we thought about taking them down by using our 35 foot ladder.  But I really hate using that ladder: it is incredibly heavy and unwieldy, hard to set up and position.  We put it in place, but the ladder barely reached the top of the pipes.  Once we got up there, we realized how heavy they were.  The thought of lifting one up while balanced on top of the ladder, and possibly falling with it to the ground, made us re-think this plan.

We next considered using climbing gear, and strapping ourselves to the roof.  But this also seemed dangerous, not to mention somewhat kooky.  And it wouldn't have helped us get down the flue pipes on the side of the house - we would have had to drop them to the ground.

So finally, we decided to get the right equipment.  We rented a scissor lift, once that could raise up about 40 feet in the air.  It's an amazing piece of equipment, and has a platform on top that can be extended once the platform is lifted up.

The hardest part about using it was getting it level.  The ground around the house is uneven, and we had to scrape the ground with a flat shovel and fill in some holes, so the lift sat evenly.  The first time we went up, the tilt of the platform was pretty intense, so we quickly went back down and repositioned it.

Then Tom and I went up on it, 35 feet in the air, and pushed the end of the platform out over to the stack pipes.

Tom on the lift

Once we got there, getting the flues down was relatively easy.  They were heavy, but with two of us up there, we got pretty good at lifting the old terra cotta flues out, then cutting away the sheet metal.

The lift is great, but it can be somewhat unnerving.  As you walk around on it, it shakes back and forth, which can be very disconcerting.  But riding it up and down is like being on an outdoor elevator - it gave me the sense of what it would be like to be a drone, just rising up into the air effortlessly.  So while we were there, we inspected the side of the house, patched the holes where the flue pipes came through, making the house watertight - just in time for the rains.

Taking down the first sections of the flue

Now another big job is out of the way, making the house more moveable.  Once we get our permits, we'll be ready to put this house on wheels, and get it down to the Rockhead and Quarry site.