chataigner
Old Oak
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,127
- Reaction score
- 55
The chimney on our "cuisine d'été" converted to BBQ is in poor condition, the whole thing is a bit p****d and the top few courses were just held in place by gravity. So, this week I reset the top few courses and added a cover to stop the rain falling on the BBQ below.
Because it was so p****d I tried to straighten things a bit by tapering the mortar - I'm a rotten bricklayer at the best of times, but this was really tricky, especially as, working from the top, there was no real access to the front except by leaning out over the 5m drop !
The top was made by casting a concrete slab 80 x 60 x 4cm thick with a reinforcing mesh. Made a mould in chipboard, lined it with alli foil, positioned the mesh on wire legs, poured the concrete then vibrated it like mad with the help of an SDS drill. Found that sheer friction stopped the mould from moving much when vibrated, so put some dowel rollers under it - much better.
Yesterday I put the top on. It is surprisingly difficult to lift 48kg (calculated based on density of 2.4) above your head when balanced on a narrow wall above a 5m drop, then place it cleanly and squarely on four spacer bricks without knocking them over. I ended up putting some offcuts of joists across the top of the chimney between the spacer bricks, dumping the 48kg top on them, then used wedges to raise, centre and level it and finally packed fairly dry mortar into the gap between the top and the bricks. I'm sure a professional could do a lot better, but it's up there and its solid !
My back on the other hand does not feel too good this morning...
Hope to find a way to get easier access to tidy up the pointing.
Because it was so p****d I tried to straighten things a bit by tapering the mortar - I'm a rotten bricklayer at the best of times, but this was really tricky, especially as, working from the top, there was no real access to the front except by leaning out over the 5m drop !
The top was made by casting a concrete slab 80 x 60 x 4cm thick with a reinforcing mesh. Made a mould in chipboard, lined it with alli foil, positioned the mesh on wire legs, poured the concrete then vibrated it like mad with the help of an SDS drill. Found that sheer friction stopped the mould from moving much when vibrated, so put some dowel rollers under it - much better.
Yesterday I put the top on. It is surprisingly difficult to lift 48kg (calculated based on density of 2.4) above your head when balanced on a narrow wall above a 5m drop, then place it cleanly and squarely on four spacer bricks without knocking them over. I ended up putting some offcuts of joists across the top of the chimney between the spacer bricks, dumping the 48kg top on them, then used wedges to raise, centre and level it and finally packed fairly dry mortar into the gap between the top and the bricks. I'm sure a professional could do a lot better, but it's up there and its solid !
My back on the other hand does not feel too good this morning...
Hope to find a way to get easier access to tidy up the pointing.
