today the chimney came down…

just before Christmas I had planned to get a chimney sweep out to make sure it was safe to use the fireplace as I hadn’t used it since my beloved died… decided to wait until the weather was more conducive to someone climbing up onto the roof…

I finally made an appointment a few weeks ago for someone to come out to inspect and clean it… they looked at the fireplace and said we needed to go outside so I could see why they weren’t going to clean it…

they explained that the chimney had rusted out and would either need to be replaced or removed…

in the end I chose removal as the cost of a new chimney was prohibitive for the amount the fireplace is used…

this morning they came and took it down…

apparently the chimneys of this era rusted from the inside and out… my beloved would have realized that the rust on the outside of the chimney was a sign that it needed to be checked… I was just lucky that I didn’t start a fire…

now that it is capped there won’t be any drafts, lol…

maybe in the Fall I will have Ye Olde Soot Sweepers out to show me options for changing it to gas… will have to see…