A rough draft

I assembled the bricks into a rough version of the outdoor fireplace we are planning to build. I wanted to see the dimensions and get a feel for how much space it would take up in our yard. The outter-ring of bricks is the apron and base, which will probably be 4 bricks in height.

The reality is it may be a long time before this gets built for real, but when the time is right we should be ready to go.

And since it was the weekend we went brick-hunting again, coming up with 25 or so pavers and a few other salvaged pieces of stone.

Our New Obsession

Inspired by our recent purchase of 140 or so antique paver bricks, over the last week we have been collecting additional pavers and bricks to incorporate into various yard projects. We found a place where old pavers had been dumped many years ago, so while it takes a good deal of effort to dig them out and transport them home, the hunt is fun. (No, we will not divulge the location!) In addition, during our hunt we have found a stash of old firebrick. These are similar to the pavers in that most are stamped by the company that made them (A.P. Green, Davis Hi Grade, etc.) but they are not as tall as a paver, instead having the shape of a traditional brick. But we found a pretty big stash of them, so now we are designing an outdoor fireplace! It is a bit of a sickness, as the more we find the more we come up with projects to use them. I'm pretty sure we won't brick up our whole house, but we do get a bit obsessive, so somebody stop us if we start to wall-off our house.

Here is the current haul:

Brick Paver Haul

With the temperature above 50 today for the first time in months, I thought of the backyard and our patio plans. A quick search on Craigslist and I found a listing for some granite edging stones. I arranged to look at them around 5pm. Turns out that in addition to the great granite pieces the guy was also selling antique paver bricks. These are the bricks that most Ohio streets were built using before asphalt took over. Historic districts still have the paver streets (and any section of town before 1940 probably has the brick under the asphalt). These bricks are all different makes, including Nelsonville, Hocking, etc. and even some Ohio State Penitentiary blocks which read "convict" since that was who made them.

So here's our haul. Please don't tell our VW mechanic as we might have stretched the weight limit of the Eurovan.

We were very lucky in that the seller had a dolly to move the bricks close to the van. And once home, our good neighbors Clinton & Becky (and Wyatt) helped unload the bricks. In thanks, we gave them the "Clinton" stamped brick. Sorry, no Becky or Wyatt stamped bricks.