All about the fireplace

The fireplace dominated our weekend. Being too cheap to get the professionals in (and mostly convinced that it isn't really asbestos), we stocked up on rubber gloves, masks, duct tape, and google. The major linchpin in our de-asbestos-fying plan was, of course, the disposal of the suspect material. Fortunately, the local recycling centre accepts certain kinds of asbestos by prior arrangement. 'Prior arrangement', it turns out, is a quick and easy call to receive specific instructions about the bags to be used (two plastic bags, heavier than your standard-issue rubbish bags and securely sealed) and to establish which day we'll be coming and what our car's registration number is.

The actual tearing down of the backboard was a bit of a let down. I expected pieces flying around dangerously and fibers dancing in the air. Instead, it was a relatively simple procedure, with the board coming apart in only a few pieces. Board was placed in bag, which was securely duct taped and then placed in another bag, which was duly duct taped as well. The double bagging and hurried taping definitely made the disposal more satisfying. Which is good, because dropping the waste off was also surprisingly easy. They didn't even double check our registration number!

Lukas and I debated all through this process whether we wanted to put the gas fireplace back in or have an open fire. Lukas, it turned out, had his heart set on this roaring open fire. You can imagine his profound disappointment, then, when not one, but two of our builder friends promptly crushed his plans with the definitive, 'Oh no! Open fires are definitely not allowed in current health and safety regulations.' Poor Lukas.

And it was poor Lukas this morning as well when we drove half an hour to pick up a fireplace surround I'd bought off ebay for a killer price. I'll not bore you with the details as the entire incident can be boiled down into three sentences: 'That'll never fit in the back of the car!' 'Of course it will!' It did....eventually....

Asbestos?

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

Completely cleared

From Briar Crescent

...but sadly not destined to be an open fire

From Briar Crescent