CHIMNEY EXCISION
or, "Look Ma, No Pipes!"
On Tuesday, June 13, the contractor continued to remove walls and sheetrock inside the house, as part of the general demolition phase.
Part of our plan is to relocate the chimney because it was in the way of the new kitchen and dining room area. So Carlton took down the sheetrock enveloping the exhaust stack. Upon so doing, he found that it was encased in asbestos-containing material. The stuff is called Transite, and it is non-friable asbestos. That means it doesn't crumble when disturbed - which is good - but you cannot dispose of this stuff normally. And Carlton couldn't touch it as he is not a certified asbestos removal contractor. So he called me up and inquired as to my intentions.
I, as a homeowner, could do the job. Exercising due caution, of course, but I could do it. The Transite stack is basically a series of seven 2.5-foot sections of very thick-walled pipe. I didn't take its dimension but it appeared to be approximately two feet in diameter with an opening of perhaps one foot for the exhaust and vent pipes you saw on the front page. The sections were strapped together with steel bands and there was a mastic, or glue, applied to seal the joints. The outer inch or so contained the asbestos. The remainder was a mixture of what appeared to be masonry (vermiculite and clay, perhaps). Gary and I would have to remove these sections one by one, starting with the top section and working our way down.
We removed the bands and found that we could move the stack. But we would have to be careful, because if we jostled it too much the whole thing would come crashing down and maybe go through the floor! Gary hopped up on the roof and took of the top of the chimney. Then we went into the basement and actually sawed off the lower ends of the heavy-gauge plastic vent and exhaust pipes. Returned to the top of the roof and pulled the pipe assembly up and out.
Then Gary took a 2x4 and jostled the top Transite section loose. We pulled it up and out onto the roof and carried it down on a ladder. These were heavy, weighing between 70 and 80 pounds each. Then it was a matter of going back inside and removing the remaining six sections one by one, from the top down. It was very dusty in there and we both wore masks. Most of the dust was from ceiling insulation that fell down on us as we removed the chimney sections.
The hole in the floor above the furnace, through which the chimney once went.
Once done, we double-bagged the Transite sections in thick plastic bags. On Wednesday, I took the seven bagged chimney sections to the Anchorage Regional Landfill where they let me dump them for the princely sum of $11.25. This is about a hundredth of what a certified contractor would have charged me to do the work.
All I can say is thank God for good neighbors like Gary. He really saved my bacon!
The inside is almost completely without walls now.
I don't know why this picture is so dusty - I don't remember it that way as I clicked the shutter. Above is
one of the crew working on taking out the bathtub.