This afternoon Jay and I demolished the fake masonry fireplace in my house to make room for a built-in entertainment center. The fireplace is non functional and does not have a flu and is definitely not in style. The first step was to remove the wooden mantle and the trim, using a hammer, crowbar, and sledge hammer. Then the brick was carefully broken up using a sledge hammer. The side bricks were removed first and then the center bricks were removed. We were surprised to find an outlet hidden in the side bricks. I used an outlet tester to verify the outlet was worked and then turned off the outlet at the breaker while we removed the bricks around it. This existing wiring for this outlet will prove to be very useful for supplying power to the outlets I plan to add to the built-in entertainment center. Shown below are some pictures of this demolition. Sorry about the picture quality, my camera was not working well and the pictures came out blurry.
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| Picture of fireplace before it was removed. |
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| Picture of fireplace after mantle and some of the bricks were removed. |
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| Picture of working outlet which was found in the side of the fireplace. |
Picture of hole in the wall after the fireplace and mantle were removed.
Eric: Could have forwarned you that the socket was live. Mom had a fake fireplace in there and the switch made it look like live coals. Think the people who bought the house from us in 2005 may have removed the fake live coal display. Fake fireplace was there when they bought the house in the early 1960s.
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