Four Thousand Dollar Day

It's muy bueno excitement around the hacienda today as we are having a new fireplace insert inserted into the fireplace. I have taken the day off work in order to be here and get in the way...an essential element of any installation by professionals.

Since we have lived here, we have occasionally had fires burning in the old fireplace but the old fireplace is so inefficient that it did not result in extra heat in the house. In fact, I considered the fireplace to be an open window. It had no damper and no cap. The only thing that prevented cold air from blowing past it and into the living room was the flimsy glass doors loosely wired to the fire box.

It is my hope that today, we are sealing an open window...and getting a reasonable return on heat when we burn.

We spent some time last night removing the glass doors and the old log rack and cleaning out the fire box. We then tried to clean up the tile as best we could.

So they will be placing an efficient insert into our fire box hole and making us an official wood burning household.

The other part of the install is a chimney liner. We had a guy come last year to sweep the chimney and upon his initial inspection, he told us not to burn until we had a chimney liner. The old masonry was deteriorated to such an extent as to make burning a fire a potential hazard.

It is 10:24 right now and Travis and the other guy of Accent Pool &  Spa have just arrived and to start their install. I shall report their progress as they progress with their progressions.

11:45AM: As with everything with this house, it never goes according to plan. If one has a plan, it should include an accordion built into the plan for when is goes un-accordionly.

Our fire box requires some structural masonry work that will delay the installation by a week. There is a curve to the back wall of the firebox (as shown in the picture above) that needs to be cut out. Otherwise, the insert will not fit. That will require a metal plate to be installed in place of the removed bricks to return the structural integrity. That metal plate must be manufactured to the specifications of our little space, which means they will be back next week. 

And so, I have the rest of the day to myself. I have things to do and so, I shall go do them.