Fireplace Work

October 27, 2025

Big work day – with several guys from Coast to Coast Masonry arriving and setting up a scaffold alongside the house. They did this with remarkable and alarming speed, and were up on the roof before I knew it.

Outside the main bedroom, looking out. All day, while I was working, I could hear the workers yelling out to one another.

I remember working with Bob along the side of the house, also with a big scaffold in place. This thing is another two levels higher than what we had (which I thought was pretty high).

Really glad I’m no longer climbing up these things.

In the dining room, some prep to prevent debris while work is being done on the roof.

Tools of the trade.

Our driveway, filled with materials.

We knew the chimney needed to be rebuilt entirely, so we were anticipating that new brick would be used. To our surprise, Art (the lead mason on site) said that he could rebuild it using the older/original Chicago Common brick.

Art was also solid on the particulars, as he mentioned having the specific type of mortar needed for older Common brick (which doesn’t play well with Portland).

We mentioned that we had a decent stash of older Common brick, much of which we accumulated while working on the house (and which Liz had meticulously cleaned). All that work paid off, as the workers were able to pick and choose from what we had available.