Bye Bye Chimney Hole . . .

While the wood stove had disappeared, the chimney hole in the ceiling remained . . . ugly, leaking, unsightly. Gary had caulked and patched the leak from the roof, but once the decision was made to put on a new roof, something had to be done quick.

I took a "cardeck" board sample into Dunn Lumbar to see if they could (a) determine what wood it was made of and (b) if anyone still manufactured a replacement. Let's just say I felt like one of those antique road show contestants . . . all the employees had to have a look since they had not seen such quality piece in a while. Needless to say, despite calls to some of their distributors, no one still made such boards.

So, onto plan # 2, have a local mill make us some boards . . . really, all we needed was 4 x 8 foot boards to replace what we already had. Unforunately, the price was a little bit more than our pocketbook was willing to fork out.

Plan #3 was absolutely brillant (thank you hubby) . . . have our friend Pat in Montana mill the boards for us. We were already headed there for vacation, would have a car with a rack on top, and raw boards would be easy to purchase. Pat was awesome, he took the rough boards we bought and the sample, and produced masterpieces! They were so beautiful, I hated to have them on top of the car while speeding home along I-90. Its now installed and the finished product will last a lifetime! Thank you Pat!

Before picture, note ugly chimney hole

After picture, they matched perfectly!

Once stained, no one will notice they are new!!

So, now onto the last and most complicated step . . . matching the wood stain so that the new boards "disappear" into the old ceiling. I will let you know how that goes!