At a charity workshop held by MACA (Mid-Atlantic Chimney Association) on January 25, 2016. Jim Bostaph, Billy Bingman, Sergey Gardner, and John Kerr from Black Goose Chimney, partnered with Wayne VanHoudt from Olde Town Chimney; Ike Rowland from County Chimney; and Steve Skloff and Larry Banks from Chimney Doctor to help a family in need.
We met the recipient family through the Department of Social Services. They had seven children and lived in a house built in 1883 in Boykins, VA. The oldest sections of the house had been the original train station for the small town. The house was literally across a narrow street from train tracks and trains definitely got our attention as they roared past.
Bad weather the week beforehand, blizzard-like conditions, made us especially concerned about the roads and about working on a metal roof. We were lucky and the weather cooperated nicely — it was 50 degrees and sunny for the duration of the project!
The sole source of heat in the house was a pair of wood stoves – one insert and one free standing. The insert had been installed with only a short connect into an unlined chimney and the stove door was broken. The free standing stove had an improper connector and floor protection, and the snout of the tee section had come apart inside the wall.
The tee snout was replaced, the thimble was relocated, and new connector pipe and floor protection were installed for the free standing stove. The short connect for the insert was removed, a positive connect liner was installed to the top of the chimney, and a new door was put on the stove.
Most of the materials were donated by Copperfield Chimney Supply, New Buck Corp. donated a replacement door for the Buck Stove, and Saver Systems gave us a check to help cover some of the out-of-pocket expenses. We are very grateful to these companies and hope you will send them some of your business in thanks for their generous contributions.
We brought in barbecue, fried chicken, and sides for lunch plus the mother of the home cooked us some delicious Haitian rice. As we were wrapping up that afternoon, she came outside, told us she felt blessed, called us her heroes, and gave us all big hugs.
