Framing will commmence on my house in one week. Just wondering what the protocol is for bringing in the mason to build my fireplace and chimney.
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If your in a hurry to keep job moving along, you can bring mason in as each floor is finished framing. This way he is not impeding the work of the frame crew, and runs risk of working under crews working above him. I would talk with framer to make sure he is aware of your desires, as not to piss him off, and he will more than likely give you a window for timing. Communication between mason and framer and you should have no problems. good luck
The last house I built that had a masonry fireplace was 2 stories with a 12/12 pitch creating a large attic. The house was large (5400 sq. ft) with some fairly complex angular wall/floor/roof intersections and the mason built up the flue and chimney as we framed.
He's a quality craftsman and easy to work with and the coordinated effort made it easy on everyone. His staging was minimized and we were able to frame clearances easily while he was able to place chimney to framing anchors precisely to the best framing locations.
I think back on that project and realize it would have been a real bitch for him to follow us, or vise-versa.
However, each situation is different.
Bring in the masons?
Hell we usually just leave them out and maybe hose them off once a week or so. If we remember. Not easy to forget some days. When the wind shifts it can get a bit whiffy.
We only pay them once a month otherwise they are perpetually drunk. Leaving them out has a few advantages. In cold weather a few keel over and, if its timed right, well... you don't pay corpses. Sometimes we get 20 or 30 days work for free.
That they make reasonably good, low cost, fill is another up side.