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Projects:
The White
House (West Wing)
The Marr House
The Red Fox and Stray Fox Inns
Stickley"
Colonel Smith Home Place
Landing
| Historic Restoration |  |
The following
are some of our more interesting
chimney/stack restoration projects:
 The
White House (West Wing), Washington, D.C.
Most
of the work done on this project was using poured masonry chimney
linings for the fireplaces.
However, the chimney serving the Roosevelt Room fireplace
terminated above the first floor in a crawl space below the second
floor.
A second masonry chimney began at a point horizontally ten
feet away from the first chimney and terminated above the roof.
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The Marr House, Warrenton, Virginia- Built 1813 The chimneys on this home were not built using conventional mortar. Grout consisted primarily of sand with lime on the exterior. The interior of the flue was almost devoid of any type of binder. The joints could be raked clean using a screwdriver to remove bricks for offset openings. The chimney required support during the lining process in order to prevent its collapse. |
Warren Green Hotel, Warrenton, Virginia- Built 1817 The Warren Green Hotel entertained General Lafayette in October 1825. General George McClellan was relieved of his command by President Lincoln and said farewell to his troops from the steps of this hotel. Our firm restored the chimney serving the boiler Major deterioration had threatened the structural integrity of this flue and required care to avoid collapse during the work. |
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The Red Fox and Stray Fox Inns, Middleburg, Virginia- Built 1715 The Red Fox Inn is the oldest in the United States.The chimneys had been improperly lined some twenty years ago but the results were unsatisfactory and many of the fireplaces leaked smoke into the room resulting in an unpleasant experience for diners. With the restaurant and hotel in full operation, CRS completed the restoration of six stone fireplace flues just in time for the Christmas season. |
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Fleetwood, Jeffersonton, Virginia- Built 1735 Three flues within one large chimney served the central area of this home. The oversized fireplace required a large flue. Two offsets and double walls at one of the offset points added to the complexity of this installation. The owners were living in the home, which required us to use additional care. In this instance, we were able to line one flue without disturbing the others and although the offset points were in the owner's bath and master bedroom, we accomplished our task without them moving to another room. Fortsmouth House, Fort Valley, Virginia- Built 1786 Fortsmouth House was only one of two houses that survived Sheriden's troop march through this valley. The bricks were reportedly fired on the property and many were "punk" after 200 years. The chimney was extremely unstable and the necessity of saving the existing brick for reuse at offset openings made the job even more tedious. Offsets and flue orientation change within the chimney provided us with one of our most challenging endeavors. The Benjamin Barrett House ("Stonewood"), Clearbrook, Virginia- Built 1787 This is a stone house with a fireplace almost 55 inches high and proportionally as wide, which was used for cooking. The finished flue size was 12 inches wide and 24 inches long. The size of the flue itself was sufficient to make this a unique job but the necessity of building a template in the flue above the fireplace provided and additional dimension to its complexity. The Opequon Mill, near Winchester, Virginia- Built 1770 The settling family in this area was known as Glass and this grain mill served the needs of the family and the surrounding community until at least 1840. The main fireplace had been closed and we found that its flue had four offsets and moved horizontally for ten feet between the first floor and the top of the chimney. “Belle
Grove Plantation”, Middletown, Virginia- Built 1794-1797
This is a National Historic Trust
property with large stone chimneys that protrude through the slate
roof of the main house and provide the main focal point of the
structure when looking from a distance. Water leakage, masonry deterioration and diminished draft
rendered all of the chimneys unserviceable. The cooking fireplace and boiler chimneys have been restored
thus far.
Virginia's Governor's Mansion, Richmond, Virginia- Built 1838 This was our most difficult and challenging project yet. The fireplaces in the Mansion never properly operated and allowed smoke to leak into the rooms whenever they were used. The flues turned horizontally in the attic for 10 feet due to a design change made during construction. Extensive interior modifications were necessary to make the fireplaces serviceable and all work was done during the Christmas entertainment season with the governor in residence. An entire book could be written about this project. It was arduous and interesting.
The Clark Cather House, Merriman Lane, Winchester, VA- Built 1842 Clark Cather was an elder in
the Loudon Street Church. His heirs sold the 240-acre estate to
Ray Robinson. His son, J. Kenneth Robinson, a U.S. Congressman,
ultimately owned and raised his family here. |
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"Clearbrook", Clearbrook, Virginia- Approximate Age: 160 Years This structure was under complete restoration when we lined this flue. Double level material staging and a "hanging scaffold" suspended from the uppermost portion of the house characterized the difficult access to this chimney. Two offsets and a marginally sized original flue created the necessity of a precision installation in order to insure proper thickness of the new liner. Stoney Creek - Edinburgh, Virginia- Built 1850 A large flue fire destroyed the chimney, which was then removed from the roofline to the top. A new chimney was built to replace that portion of the old one, which had been removed. Economics prevented the demolition of the entire chimney. The instability of the remainder of the old chimney caused anchoring problems for the new chimney portion, which extended 12 feet over the roofline. The liner was installed and after several days, the structure was solid and structurally sound. The liner installation stabilized the entire chimney and no further guy support was necessary. Stickley, Strasburg, Virginia- Built 1850's The chimney that was lined in this house had two flues with a deteriorated separator between the flues. The first flue was over forty feet and terminated in the basement at a large fireplace, which had originally been used for cooking. The house had been restored prior to our arrival and the cost of replacing wallpaper and related finishes would have rendered the job economically infeasible if offset openings had been cut in the walls. Resultantly, we fabricated a hydraulic tool, which was suitable for this job in order to set our offset pins within the chimney and without cutting in from the outside. Colonel Smith Home Place, Linden, Virginia- Built 1860 Stone chimneys with multiple offsets and totally decayed smoke chambers were the rule in this home. The home was under restoration at the time and the owner chose to remain in residence. The wythe walls of the chimneys had to be removed as a result of their poor condition. Done during the hottest days of summer while snakes ran around under our scaffolding, this home was one of most interesting for the year. Moore House, Mt. Jackson, Virginia- Built 1868 The chimneys in this house were small and several had multiple offsets. The fireplaces had been closed for many years and when they were opened, it was discovered that were almost completely deteriorated. Six flues were lined in this house, all fireplaces were rebuilt, dampers installed and two hearths replaced. This job had all of the elements of a truly complicated undertaking including the challenge of a double flue within a single chase. Runnymeade, Marshall, Virginia- Built 1895-1900 An extremely steep tin roof with several dormers characterized this job with an interior chimney placed in a most inaccessible location. The chimney itself was unstable and offered no possibility of support for the necessary scaffolding and equipment. The Inn at Little Washington, Washington, VA - Built c. 1900 The “Inn” is consistently rated as one of the top three restaurants in the United States. The chimney serving the main dining room and lobby sustained a flue fire during the height of the autumn leaf-viewing season and every room was occupied. We were able to completely restore the chimney during this period without inconvenience or disruption and have the fireplace burning within a few days after the fire. Grimsley Home, Rappahannock, Virginia This stone chimney was constructed of large native stones from the property and the top was uneven which prevented us from placing our equipment on the chimney. The entire lining procedure was accomplished from a scaffold built above (not in contact) the chimney. This chimney was not plumb nor did the flue remain constant in size from top to bottom. In order to install the liner centered in the flue, the lining winch had to be realigned constantly as the flue was being installed. University of Virginia, West Lawns and Ranges The
original part of the University is the "Lawns and Ranges"
where each room has a fireplace and classes were taught during Thomas
Jefferson's days. Today,
these rooms are used to house students and are in great demand in spite
of the absence of a bathroom. The
chimneys in these buildings ultimately became unserviceable and we
developed a modified AHRENS poured masonry chimney liner, which can be
removed later if, desired for archaeological study. This liner was specified "without substitute" and has
been used to restore all 108 of these flues including Edgar Allen Poe's
room and the chimneys in the rooms of many other historic notables. |
