Delivery tales
They’re heavy these stone fireplaces! And we’ve had to delivery them to some very awkward locations: Across gardens that are knee deep in mud for example, and invariably into houses that are littered with the obstacles that building works often involve….. scaffolding, cables, trestles, buckets of plaster, you name it, and we’ve climbed over it. Even our small stone fireplace is very heavy: The main mantle of a small one alone weighs around 300lb! That’s bad enough just lifting it out of the delivery van, but if then you have to walk with it through litter strewn corridors, and even upstairs, then it soon feels more like 3 tons!
That is why we always emaphasise that you should have strong helpers on hand when we delivery. there is no substitute for muscle, and the more the merrier to share the load! We once arrived to install a massive fireplace in the wilds of Scotland, and found the entrance alley to the grand dining room (in which we were installing) was only about 2 feet wide. It was only just possible to squeeze through the stone fireplace sections, and no room for a ‘man on each corner’ There were also steps to negotiate, so we couldn’t use a trolley to ease the load.
After carefull planning, and plenty of spinach, we managed to get the fireplace into the room, but even now, our fitters remind me to ask questions about access before I send them into the back of beyond with a very heavy fireplace!