2 August 2014

Kevin (who works 7 days a week) arrived at 8:30.  With some modest help from me, he laid another 10 courses of block, which included putting in the flue cleanout and the 6″ thimble for attaching the woodstove to the chimney.  We made the cleanout opening extra tall so that, in theory, I will be able to brush the chimney flue from the bottom up; much safer than clambering 20 feet up into the air onto a metal roof once a year. I fabricated 20 metal standoffs, which Kevin is using to brace the (otherwise completely freestanding) flue to the concrete block every 5 vertical feet or so.