Stove removal

As much as we admired the rustic feel the wood stove lent to the joint, we decided to get rid of it, for two reasons. First, it took up a hell of a lot of space in the living room. Second, every time we spoke with our insurance company about the cottage, they'd always ask about it. We got the impression that such a device could be, at worst, hazardous, and at best costly in terms of premium payments. So it went.

Here it is, with part of the faux brix peeled off the nearby wall:


Shortly after this photo was shot back in August, we arranged with our neighbor Gary to have it hauled off the premises. If memory serves, his brother in law could use it, so we said "take it away!" That left the six large tiles (or would you call them bricks? They were thick enough) on the floor to remove.

Those six bricktiles popped out easily -- a little pry and they were free. One broke when I placed (dropped) it on the floor. That left us with five of the heat-resistant beauties. I ended up giving them to Gary, too, figuring he might have some use for them. (Some of the more choice materials ended up being salvaged for either Gary or our other neighbor, Will. In fact, there were two nice six-panel closet doors we didn't foresee using, and Gary happily took them. After taking up space in his garage for a month, he sheepishly asked me this past weekend if I'd mind if he put them by the street to see if a passing motorist could put them to use. He propped them up at the end of his driveway with a "FREE" sign. Within 45 minutes, Gary had solved his problem.)

But I digress. The bricktiles rested on a foundation of concrete, or what my friend Bergie likes to call "cretis." I figured a few blows with the sledge would pulverize the concrete.

It sort of worked out that way. I was expecting to be able to peel the concrete from the wooden subfloor. But again, another one of our cottage's many surprises! Whoever installed the stove poured the concrete directly on carpet: