Fire. Gas fire that is

 I did not take photos of the process of installing the new chimney liner, or the logs themselves. But I do have photos of the fireplace as it was:

Fireplace setting

Fireplace detail, with scorching for character

as well as our "aspirational" fireplace (from the Meyer May house): 

The fireplace that started it all

Wright was fond of fireplaces. We have three in this house. We are only putting gas logs in one, mainly because of the cost of relining  the chimney flue, which we were told is necessary. Of course, it probably is.

According to "sources" (that means lost to history) Mrs. Bogk (Mary) did not like fires inside the house (someone after my own heart) and didn't use the fireplaces while she lived here - and she lived here until 1953.

The fireplaces were certainly used by the Elsners, though. You can see that in the above photos. Two of the three fireplaces had their dampers mortared closed, certainly for energy conservation purposes. We are not opening them up. 

Enough of that history. We need to get on with the plan.

We had to do two things, and while I was only dealing with one salesman, I had two quotes, two teams, and two installations.

First, we had to get a new chimney liner. Of course, you have to trust these guys, and here is what they said:

This took a couple of days, and the process sort of morphed into modifying the liner rather than modifying the tiles as the crew realized that the tiles would be almost impossible to remove.

So they pounded the liner (which looks like a typical AC duct, but I am sure is much more robust) into a rectangular cross section so it would fit down the existing flue. After sliding the new liner into the tiles,  the pumped in an insulating material made of vermiculite and some other magic stuff that solidified and keeps us safe/

The only downside we experienced was the driveway was cracked by the lift truck. But that will be fixed by the end of August.

Then the gas log installation team came by and started their magic.

The first thing they had to do was find the gas line and route it up to the fireplace.

There is a gas line in place that was probably used for a firestarter, but it would not make sense to use that for these logs (you can see it in the second photo above). So the team tapped into the gas line to the water heater, and then snaked the line into the ash chute and into the fireplace.

After much work, we ended up with this:

We will (some tims soon?) install a fender in front of the logs (look at the aspirational photo above) that will look like the original andirons designed for the house:

which I think will be very, very cool.

In the meantime, this is what we get to enjoy!

Thanks to everyone at Chimney Concepts!

A little Houston break

We spent last week in Houston. There were some chores to catch up on, some errands to run, and more importantly, some people to see.

Roxy, Doreen, Jeannette, Trouta

We were  contemplating driving down, but the time we take (three days, two nights) is just too much for a one week trip. So a quick flight (delayed both ways because of weather, but we got where we were going never the less) and we were back at the "other" coast. I think I will call Houston the "Third Coast" and Milwaukee the "Fresh Coast". Makes sense to me.

So on the Third Coast we were able to see many friends and catch up with family. When you spend 40 years in a place to tend to put down roots. Or at least I hope you do! I saw friends I made at the many companies where I've worked, and we had dinner with other friends whose company we like to keep.

We also made pancakes for family:

Me, Roxy, Quinn, Riley, Doreen, Zoe, Jeannette, Renee, Trouta

It was a joyous affair. We ate two pounds of bacon and a double batch of buttermilk pancakes. (has there ever been a better breakfast food?) 

You forget about the heat (which is probably a good thing) but to tell the truth, it wasn't that bad last week. And besides that, it was hot in Milwaukee as well.

Here is a funny anecdote from one of my lunches with old friends (there were four of us in total). Bob was talking about one of the companies he had worked for and could not quite remember the name. (not a memory issue, and you will see.) I asked "Object Reservoir?" "No, not Object..." Marty asked "3DGeo?", "No". "Peter Duncan's Company?" "No, not Chroma..." so you can see the problem. We, each of us, have worked for many companies. (I claim 10, but it is really more like 15, but that just sounds like too many companies)

We never did figure out what company he was talking about.