Ok, ok, that pic has nothing to do with the fireplaces, but I just love it when my girl is rockin' the power tools... Get it, Monkiki! ;-)
The house has one original gas fireplace remaining (on the top floor, back bedroom). It's really gorgeous, so we thought we'd explore what might be left of the main fireplace in the Parlor floor Living Room.
All of the other fireplaces have been plastered over, and we hoped that something original remained. I began by tapping away, oh so confidently, perfectly sure that a masterpiece of pewter-inlaid marble would be revealed...
Ummm. Nope. Just brick. Lots of it. One layer... then another layer... then a gap, then another layer... get the picture?
When Christine got tired of my cursing at the bricks, and went off to chat with a neighbor, I upgraded my tool choice. Pls note the sledgehammer in the pic below. The sledge made quick work of the brick and we quickly discovered that the original fireplace detail had been carted out long ago. I hope it's resting comfortably in someone's home and not in the landfill. 
We found a source for period mantelpieces, and hope to put high efficiency gas inserts into the old fireplace boxes. The Mantis Condensing Fireplace is very cool, as are the Mendota High Efficiency Inserts. More on that to come...
[where: 10032]
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