More wall demo @ my house pip

[pitterwoo]

Just took some pictures of the progress on the walls if anyone wants to see.

H is taking down the terra cotta tubes, re-mortaring the brick (it's crazy how much is just gone or turned to powder!) and adding studs. Once the walls are framed in we will have outlets wired, add a layer of spray foam to the back of the bricks and then add a layer of pink panther and drywall. I'm hoping to hire out the drywall taping. It's so tedious and I think H will just be totally over this project by then.


Here is the part I showed you before. Now with studs.



corner of the room


same corner

Those terra cotta things are so heavy and all the old mortar is really dusty. H actually weighed one and they are 10# each! He's getting quite a workout with this demo and carrying the terra cotta out of the house.


here's that side wall again. He's gotten most of the terra cotta off now and is filling the joints.

[wawa]

I'm so confused by those tubes. What are they for? Were they structural? I've never seen anything like that.

[lys]

Definitely hire out the dry wall. THe sanding is HORRIBLE.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Wow!

[pitterwoo]

Dec 7, 2012 14:44:27 GMT -5 wawa said:

I'm so confused by those tubes. What are they for? Were they structural? I've never seen anything like that.

They ARE confusing.

What they are is chimney flue liners.


I don't know if they just used them in home construction because they were a common material at the time or if they really thought there was a useful property about them. I can't think of any because my neighbors and I are all freezing our asses off.

I believe the construction is called double brick even though in this case it's not another layer of brick, but terracotta instead.

The house is from the 30s and I know there are others around here with the same construction, but there are also some who had brick with studs (with no insulation at the time, but can get blown in insulation pretty easily).

They are structural which is why we had never considered trying to remove them before. But H was messing around and some of the tubes were loose and he started removing them and then just decided he could stud small sections. In the one photo you can see he put up some temporary supports while he removes the tubes from the back wall and gets studs up.

[moolarkey]

Do you suppose they thought the terracotta tubes were some sort of insulation - either to keep your home cooler or warmer?

Just talked to my H and he believes they are/were structural and also somewhat insulating. He explained to me that an exterior brick wall is typically considered brick veneer. That true brick walls, especially in very old homes, are usually about 16" thick and taper as they go up because they needed to be self-supporting.

I think I stated what he said to me correctly above.

[pitterwoo]

yes, we think that in the 30s and 40s they probably considered the air in the tubes to be insulating. Doesn't really cut it though. The air moves a lot through the tubes, so it's constantly convecting.