A Box of Rocks
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Some people might think that this describes our level of intelligence for taking on a project like Rock Crest. Some days, when I look around and see the absolutely infinite number of projects and calculate the incalculable number of energy hours and financial expenditures that will be required to get us to "done," I think "What have we gotten ourselves into?"But, once you're in the middle of the stream -- especially after the extreme effort it's taken to get out there, there's no way you're going to turn back and let it all be for naught! So, on we go.
I've been a terrible diarist about the Rock Crest life, which I'll hope to rectify this year by more frequently documenting what's going on. With progress that's often so slow it's hard to see, it seems strange to chronicle it. But even incremental progress often represents many, many arduous hours, immense thought, and steely commitment, so it all warrants being told.
So, to catch up a bit...
Rock Crest became pretty quiet about a month ago. My Dad finished up his pet projects, including creating a permanent staircase off the Study bedroom, ready to be doweled and stained when the time is right. Then he and Mom set off on their trip back to California and another many months of work ahead preparing my
grandmother's house for sale. The dust had only begun to settle at the Crest before Dan was back at work, creating the chimney extension to vent the back fireplace off the Solarium.
When we raised the roof to three-story height, that left the ancestral chimney about 15' too short. Phase 1 was to build the structural framing for the chimney. Next came the pipes and venting and internals. Once that was completed, it was time for the external beautification.
First, Brien applied metal lath around the Tyvek-wrapped surface. Then a skim coat was applied. Then, Dan and Joe set to work mixing mortar, lifting it to the mini-roof and scaffolding via the pulley, and selecting, gathering, and hauling rocks up to adorn the outside.
Rocking the chimney has been a major undertaking -- what else is new? What at Rock Crest hasn't taken the last ounce of strength, mental stamina, or intestinal fortitude to complete? First, there's the matter of integrating the existing chimney stones with the salvaged stones and cultured stone corners.
Then, there's the challenge of arranging the stones, marble, bricks, geodes, and other materials to mimic the whimsy LeCameron used when he created the original stonework. There's also the matter of the stones being different thicknesses and weights, with different aptitudes for adhering to the skim coat. Also, you can't use a recently-applied stone as the basis for the next stone course, so you've got to allow plenty of time for the mortar to dry.
The irregularity of sizes and shapes also requires LOTS of mortar for the joints between the stones -- and the mortar can only be mixed in small enough batches so that it doesn't dry out. The more mortar, the more heavy buckets need to be hoisted up from the ground to the ledge and the scaffold, where Dan's been crouching and balancing, and periodically losing grip on his trowel, only to have it fall all the way down to the ground, where he's got to reclaim it! Then it's down 3 stories to the back yard and then back up again.
So, it's no wonder at all that it's taken 3 weeks to get to the point of completing the chimney rock just around the small portion below the West eaves! What a work -- and what a masterwork!
Dan's artistry is laudable -- and I hope it will be something that people will be able to appreciate for generations. I only wish each arduous element of this construction could remain observable, and I wish I'd done a better job of documenting things as they occurred. But fatigue and the daily grind of trying to maintain life in multiple spheres just got the best of me, I guess.Today's special treat was gathering the rocks Brien had already brought up from the ground to the 3rd floor into buckets so that we could lift them through the East loft windows onto the roof, in preparation for Dan's next phase with the back chimney. We also had to bring some stones up from the front porch in a big container, up 2 flights of stairs and then out onto the roof.
Hopefully, this will make for some quicker progress as Dan enjoys a bit more ease of movement, walking around the chimney -- instead of crouching for hours on end on a narrow scaffold!
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