The great chimney battle

The proverbial 'before' shot

As I began writing this the jackhammer was taking my chimney down layer by layer. I was rather proud of my chimney, as it appeared to be not giving up without a fight! It was, as we have observed, a very well built chimney, and this is perhaps the reason it separated from the rest of the house but did not actually fall down!! 

We have—the house and I—lived through the earthquakes and aftershocks on very good terms. I, for my part, have been intensely grateful that the house remained standing! When the September 7.1 hit (the first quake which set all of this off) it was so violent I was certain may house was being destroyed, that all of the exterior block-work and stucco was being shaken off the house. When I inspected the house in daylight it still stood strong, and the only evidence of the earthquake was step cracking through the mortar, and the cracks down each side of the chimney which, at that point in time, were not too bad. She has been through a lot (I don’t know why I call it a ‘she’), and so yes, I am intensely grateful! How much more can she take? She’s like me, way too stubborn to ever give up!

Poster shot -- pity it wasn't summer....he'd have been topless!

So, today we commenced a new look, which I am assured with be the tarpaulin look. Quite sheik and mysterious, though this will only be over night. By days end tomorrow we will hopefully have the full plywood look. A fashionable trend across Christchurch these days! Plywood offers so many opportunities! Do I paint to match the house? Do I offer the blank plywood canvas to friends of my daughter’s at Design & Art College? Do I offer it as advertising space? So many possibilities…

I have begged for pink batts to be placed between the plywood and the house as, for some incredibly stupid reason, this house does not have insulation. We freeze in winter, hence my great worshiping of the heat pump – I lay flowers at its altar every freezing day!

Progressing slowly...

As I sat here writing, I wondered if the windows would stay in the house if we had a decent aftershock, or fall out*…as the chimney which stood between them is half down, and the wall above them is also gone. Guess I will find out the answer if we get an aftershock of any significant size. Frankly we barely move for anything under a 5.0—even the cats don’t move for anything under a 5.0! 

At a 5.5 I might look up from the laptop, at a 6.3 I’ll be hanging on to something. Last Monday (June 13) in the midst of the 6.3 I, for some incredibly bizarre reason, swore at the earth and told her to “cut it out and sit still!” I don’t know why I thought that might work, but I was a little pissed off, I was in the middle of making a latte (coffee)! Priorities people, priorities!!

And then the power went out so I could not froth my milk. Heartbreak!!

One of the top 5 toughest to take down! I was so proud!

Normally I am a devout tea drinker, but since my daughter’s boyfriend, Jake, brought round an espresso machine suddenly espressos/latte became a daily necessity! My daughter, Lisa, taught me how to froth the milk, and so we are immensely proud of ourselves when we get ‘a good froth!’ (yes, we are incredibly easy to please!). I limit myself to three coffees a day—I was having five or six but people tell me that’s too many!!!

Gaping wound!

I just deviated off topic, didn’t I…

Back to quakes and shakes…

Don't even think it!

When the builders left to drop off a load of ‘chimney’ and take a lunch break, I had to chase one of our cats away from the remaining chimney as the little ‘toad’ decided—having jumped up the scaffolding—that  she could actually make it into the roof cavity, while it was exposed. This was after she looked down the centre of the chimney and toyed with the idea—I could tell by the look on her face that ‘toying’ was going on—of jumping down into the chimney. That’s the last thing I need, a cat in the chimney or in the roof!!

By days end we had what seriously looked like a bandaid on the face of our house! She looked like she’s been in a fight—and I guess she had, because she fought the builders every step of the way! Round two starts 8.30 a.m. tomorrow morning! **

Down to the last layers!

In Christchurch, at this time, in my personal opinion, builders are gods!!!

The new look. Not sure it's working for me....

 

*  Note: an aftershock of 5.4 did hit at 10.30 pm and the windows did stay in the house!!! Hoorah! And…thank heavens the chimney was half down!

**  Update: The following day the rest of the chimney conceded to go quietly… Perhaps tomorrow we will have plywood…

Christchurch Earthquake 22nd Feb 2011

A brief update on our personal situation...

On 4th Sep Christchurch was hit by a 7.1 magnitude Earthquake. Yesterday we were hit by a 6.3 magnitude Earthquake. This one was 5 kilometres away and 5 kilometres deep...thus the destruction has been violent and massive.

Our central business district is a disaster zone, a stage of emergency has been declared.

In our own home we have suffered only mildly. This crack up the chimney as it was after the first hit yesterday, and then after the second big aftershock. The chimney will at some point need to come down, but at this stage it is not a danger unless we get massive aftershocks. The fire dept are under such pressure that we can surely only demand the most urgent work from them.

Another big aftershock and the chimney may come down and take part of the roof and front of the house with it. We have our fingers crossed. This movement has caused minor interior damage, but it is purely cosmetic (as far as we know!)




 
 





Our front fence, which withstood the Sep 4th just fine, was on a lean after the first one yesterday, and then, if you look at the following one you will see the lean after the next big aftershock, and the final picture....well that's after the fire dept guys pushed it down.

 My young uns and our badly leaning fence. And, my first ever graffiti .... I know which I'd written a poem or something motivational!

After a few good firemen, its down.














The following one is our newly fenceless front yard and roped off danger area. We are exposed to the street now, but it's a very open look...and I think it works!

Five days after the Earthquake

Five days after the earthquake and we have finally had a decent sleep. Perhaps it was simply exhaustion that led many of us to sleep through the minor aftershocks. I would be happy if I felt fully rested, but like many, I still feel exhausted.

As more pictures are shown in the news we see more and more of the damage.

A railway line not supposed to look like this! Up and down, left to right...and as dreadful as it is to look at, I cannot help but wonder what it would have looked like as it happened? The macabre side of human nature wants to ask for a replay on television.

Houses that had looked okay on Tuesday, with intact chimneys, were not looking as good after yesterday's 5.1 magnitude aftershock. (Some people are saying it was a completely different earthquake and not an aftershock, becuase it was a different fault, one actually near Diamond Harbour.) Whatever you want to call it, further damage happened. Our own chimney which had a small crack down the right side, now has a slightly bigger crack there and a new crack down the left side. Am I worried a bigger aftershock will topple the chimney? Yes, I am, but at the moment the cracks are only a few millimeters wide. We will just take things one day at a time...or perhaps more correctly would be to say 'one aftershock at a time'.

As I said, chimneys continue to be an issue for many houses. Builders, bricklayers and roofers are working as hard as they can to get these dangerous chimneys down as safely as possible.

But when the aftershock hits, and you really really want the chimney to topple the other way ... sometimes it just comes right through your house, leaving a massive hole in the roof. Fortunately this is not the norm.

It is time to appreciate our builders as the vital components to recovery that they are. Tradesmen are the men we most want to see walking up the driveway, tool belt swinging.