As you can see, Mr. Dusty Butts was VERY excited to begin demolition.
The photo to the right shows is the fireplace that must go! It is right in the center of my space, blocking my view from all angles. Including the hearth, this monolith measures 6' square. What you can't see in this photo is there is another fireplace directly beneath this one. We are undecided at this time if both fireplaces will go or just the one on the main floor.
It took only two hours to remove the chimney down to the level of the roof.
My genius husband used a saw to cut a sewer pipe into two halves. He then screwed the two halves together on one end. He drilled two holes into one end of the chute and tied it to the chimney with sturdy rope. We used the chute to send bricks into the backyard. It worked like a charm - even on chunks of bricks.
Repairing a truss that stood too tall
The truss resting on the wall between our home and the garage was 7/8" taller than the other trusses in our roof. This left us with a wavy looking roof over the garage.
We removed the shingles, peeled back the felt, and removed the sheathing on both sides of the roof to expose the offending truss. We used a 16' 2 x 4 as a "sister" to reinforce the too-tall truss, and trimmed off the excess.
Our home looks MUCH larger and more open.
Removing the fireplace made a GIGANTIC mess, but I would do it again in a second.