This is one of the old fireplaces here still standing in this subdivision, probably built a hundred years ago, and they called me to patch this. They got the rock from the land – they picked it from wherever on the land – and they used red clay, dirt, to build it. I can’t believe it’s still standing, but they want me to redo the whole fireplace.
This is the arch here, and these rocks fell out. What I do to fix these is I get a grout bag and I mix buff mortar-type mix. I fill the holes with mortar and then I start slowly taking some of the dirt out and replacing it at least two inches in with buff mortar, so we can save this. They want to save this but not tear it down – just patch it – and that’s one of my projects coming up, is to make this where it won’t fall down. And that’s what I do. Anything in masonry I practically can do.