Pre-Rehab
View pre-rehab. I always suspected there was a hidden fireplace because:
1. The bathroom does not fill the entire area behind this wall, and
2. The upper floor has a fireplace directly above this location.
I confirmed my suspicions when I found the plans for the mid-1990's remodel in the attic of the addition. Let's get to work!
Demo
Success! Fireplace confirmed, beginning drywall tear-out.
Drywall is gone. Didn't expect the plaster, this is gonna be quite a project!
Resetting the view, I'll use this angle throughout the rest of the process.
Plaster Removal
Beginning the process of plater removal.
More plaster removal. Doesn't look like much progress, but this was a solid evening's worth of work.
Close up of the opening. The original arch was crumbling away, so multiple layers of boards and old bricks were used to support it. Also note that the hearth is completely missing.
I kept the nails that held the boards up. They're square, somewhat rectangular, so they date at least pre-1900's.
Plaster completely removed. Now the fun begins.
Rebuild
I brought in Andrew with Old Tyme Brick and Stone for the rebuild.
End of Day 1 of the rebuild. I didn't take any pictures during the tear-down because there was just an unbelievable amount of dirt, dust and soot that came out of the fireplace. You could barely see anything.
Judging from the age of the nails that held up the arch, the fireplace must have been closed off for many decades, and assumedly the flue was used as a soot dump for the fireplace on the upper floor. We spent a better part of the day cleaning out the junk built up in the flue.
At the end of the day we built the makeshift bracing shown in the picture. "Yeah, that should hold for the night" wasn't exactly comforting, but Andrew knew what he was doing, and it held flawlessly. This was THE point where I thought to myself, "Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?"
Day 2. Andrew replaced the broken bricks at the bottom of the fireplace and installed L channels to reinforce the arch.
I requested that he rebuild the arch in the style of the original fireplace, including a keystone brick and a couple smaller wedge-shaped bricks on the edges of the arch. He informed me that this style is similar to the "Jack Arch," which you can see in the first story windows of the building that houses The Franklin across the street from my house.
Forming the bricks for the arch, Andrew spent a lot of time cutting these bricks to shape, I am truly grateful.
Setting the arch in place. Note the stringline across the arch. We did our best to "level" the bricks, but since the fireplace was out of level to start, we had to balance between setting true level and setting to match the existing brick courses.
Note the change in the stack of the bricks next to the fireplace. It was my job to sort through an entire pallet of bricks reclaimed from another St. Louis building for "good" ones that matched the fireplace. We were looking for bricks that were more orange-colored, as opposed to the redder-color bricks with which we're all familiar.
End of Day 2. Arch is set, added a few more courses to stabilize the support structure.
Day 3. Addressing the structural issues above the arch. Note the double courses of brick.
Fireplace structure completely rebuilt. Time to address the hearth.
We did four total courses of hearth. Judging from the bricks at the bottom, the hearth may have at some point been taller, but we decided that the fourth course would be as high as we would go to respect the overall dimensions of the fireplace.
Hearth is complete. Andrew gave me a crash course in tuckpointing, it was my turn to take back over the rebuild.
Tuckpointing and Finishing
Old mortar is removed. I used a sandwich blade on my angle grinder; you can't even imagine how much dust this created. I finished with a hammer a chisel to remove all the little bits of old mortar. Very meticulous, I think this was 4 or 5 evenings of work.
Tuckpointing complete. This was 2 evenings of work, note that the bottom mortar is a different color than the top. I took this right after I finished.
If you ever decide you'll do your own tuckpointing, wear gloves. I had all the proper tools, but I quickly realized that the best tools I had at my disposal were my fingers.
Huge mistake. The mortar sucked all the moisture out of my fingers and the sand acted as an abrasive. I had bandages on all 10 of my fingers for a week to heal from the cuts.
The final step is the acid wash. I attempted this step alone but soon realized that I was in way over my head. Muriatic acid doesn't play around.
I brought Andrew back to help me with this step. The results speak for themselves.
I can't speak highly enough of Andrew. Usually when you choose a contractor, you have to choose two of quick, cheap and good. He gives you all three. Look him up at Old Tyme Brick & Stone.
Not much difference between this picture and the last, but it represents an immense amount of work. Framing, drywall hanging & finishing, flooring, painting, trim work.
I'm really proud of it.
Mantle
Luke Reynolds mentioned that he has some old barn timbers, and one of those timbers would look great as a mantle on the fireplace. Unfortunately for him, I took him up on the offer.
He's got an incredible wood shop on the north side with some really impressive woodworking machines. He invited me up to the shop and we cut a massive beam down to size, and he coached me through cleaning it up.
I learned a lot about working with old pieces of wood. The beam shown is the result of many evenings of work.
Luke recommended I finish the mantle with Tung oil and provided the supplies. I spent a weekend sealing the wood with the oil, I'm still flabbergasted by how beautiful it turned out.
Luke owns a little bar, you may have heard of it, it's called Molly's, stop on by and grab a beer sometime. He's a stand-up dude and he's great for the neighborhood, we're lucky to have him.
After we hung the mantle I inquired about the pieces that were left over from cutting down the mantle. I thought they would look great as a backsplash for the adjacent beverage bar.
They do. But I guess you'll have to come see the finished product in person :)