From Garage to Attic

Below is a picture of our upstairs bedroom closet, the back wall of which is situated just above our existing hot water heater. Behind that back wall is a space about 12" deep, 30" wide extending from the second floor up into the attic.

I knew from peeking at the space from below that it was a straight, sheltered run from where I had intended putting the solar storage tank to where plumbing and sensor lines would have to dogleg into the attic before the final run to the collectors. Below is my first bashful cut into the wall.

I'd shortly come to realize that the whole wall would have to come down. The 10" galvanized pipe on the left concealed an 8" diameter ceramic chimney that used to vent a wood stove that long ago was removed from the kitchen. It was all perched upon 4" thick disk of cement that was resting on the floorboards. At this point I was just hoping that I'd be able to get all the heavy sections (2' and ~40 lbs. each) of chimney out alone. I knew they were mortared together with brittle mortar, so I started by nibbling through the steel outer tube in a can opening fashion.

The other flue in the wall was for the furnace and water heater. The joy of working on older homes is that you find nasty old anachronisms at every turn - deep strata of lead paint and wonderful products like `Metalbestos'. Metalbestos exists to this day, although I suspect that they changed the insulation. You can have your Mentos! I have my Metalbestos!

Back to the less deadly tubing... I got the steel tube opened and made relatively short work of removing the pipes. For the more stubborn joints, I used a Bosch rotary hammer with a chisel bit which made doing this *way* easier.

To the left is the offending chimney in it's full glory.

Below left is the chimney removed, the space Great Stuff'ed (TM), R13 insulated with the conduit, bell wire (brown, hard to see), and plumbing installed. I used bell hangers for the plumbing to provide space for the foam rubber insulation with which I ultimately insulated the pipe. The conduit I put in because down the road I might want to install photovoltaics on the roof. The bell wire is for the temp sensor at the outlet of the collectors.

The rest of this job was significantly less fun. I drywalled, which I'm terrible at, and then didn't have quite enough time to fully reassemble the trim and floor-to-ceiling shelving. It created some `tension' the following week when the house was back up to full occupancy, but ultimately I got it all finished and we ended up with a closet that was better organized. Whew!

I'm waiting for FastJacks (3"), Oatey flashings, Geocel and peel and stick roofing for mounting the panels, so I've since turned my attention to mounting the five gallon drainback tank in the garage; more hopefully soon!