Chimney rebuild, toppled by snow

Chimney, metal roof, snow, and no proper cricket. Snow lets go off a metal roof all at once, and there is nothing gentle about it. By the time I saw it, the top of the chimney was lying out in the yard and what was left stopped at the roofline.

I had some much-welcomed help on this one: Ben, Jacob and Dad, plus Mom, the most patient and valuable CFO and Head Hod Carrier a crew ever had. It is not often you get an 80-plus-year-old tradesman to teach you. Lucky kids. I hope they appreciate it. Dad spent a fair bit of the job taking down Jacob's work to show him how to do it right. I know that feeling.

The original chimney did not have stone on it, but the customer figured that since we were doing all of this work it may as well look fancy when we finish. So the chase went back up, got a scratch coat, and then the whole thing, ground to cap, got faced in manufactured river rock, sorted on a plank and set one at a time.

For anyone with an eagle eye, the flashing in the finished photos is indeed not done. I had a roofing contractor come back and take care of that part, and build a larger cricket so that this would not happen again.

Log cabin with its block chimney broken off at the roofline and the cap lying in snow — Metal roof + chimney + snow = bad combination when not built properly.

Scaffold set against the log cabin chimney chase with manufactured river rock piled on a tarp below — Progress....

Apprentice mixing mortar in a tub while two masons work the chimney chase on the log cabin — I had some much-welcomed help on this one! Ben, Jacob and Dad.

Two apprentices working mortar into a wheelbarrow and tub beside the log cabin chimney chase — Mixing mortar and keeping the wheelbarrow full.

Apprentice mixing mortar with a paddle mixer next to the scratch-coated chimney chase on the log wall — Dad probably taking down Jacob's work to show him how to do it the right way. I know that feeling...

Older mason sorting manufactured river rock on a plank while an apprentice sets stone at the chimney base — It's not often that you get an 80+-year-old tradesman to teach you! Lucky kids. I hope they appreciate it!

Apprentice choosing a manufactured river rock off the sorting plank as the first courses go up — Picking the next stone off the plank.

Apprentice buttering the back of a river rock with a trowel beside the scratch-coated chimney chase — Buttering a stone before it goes on the wall.

Three masons working the chimney chase as river rock veneer reaches waist height on the log cabin — Three sets of hands on the same wall.

Manufactured river rock veneer climbing the chimney chase while stone is cut and set from the scaffold plank — Working up the chase, one stone at a time.

manufactured river rock laid chest high on the log cabin chimney, apprentice holding the next stone — Starting to look like a chimney.

Four family members beside the red Fackrell Masonry pickup at the log cabin, scaffold on the chimney behind — Dad (the oldest standing mason, I'm sure.), Mom (the most patient and valuable CFO/Head Hod Carrier) and two apprentices.

manufactured river rock chimney built past the metal roof to the cap with scaffold still standing against the cabin — The original chimney did not have stone on it but the customer figured that since we were doing all of this work it may as well look fancy when we finish.

Completed manufactured river rock chimney running from the ground to the cap up the log cabin's metal roof — Completed Chimney. For those with an 'eagle eye', the flashing is, indeed, not finished. I had a roofing contractor come back and do that part as well as build a larger cricket so that this would not happen again.

Finished manufactured river rock chimney on the log cabin in the pines with the scaffold taken down — All finished!

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