The Fire Damage

The fire was devastating and the fire brigade had to tear out the floor to extinguish the burning insulation below. They also had to tear off the ceiling gypsum board and remove that insulation to stop the fire from spreading to the roof.

Today the floor joists and flooring have been repaired and the walls are being worked on. Replacement of roof insulation and ceiling gypsum boards will begin soon..

FIRE: January 24, 2023: The repair story

I didn't really realize how cluttered my studio was until after it really got cluttered.

Firefighters had to destroy plywood flooring

Cellulose fibre between floor joists caught fire burned rapidly. But fast action by Ottawa's fire fighters extinguished the flames.

BIG MESS

The office portion was devastated. Computer and monitor and table were a write-off.

The structure was immediately closed-in

The first, and only thing, that was done before spring was to close in the building floor, the destroyed windows, and the maindoor with plywood.

Main beams structurally sound

Despite the forebodings from the professional restoration folks I slowly understood that the studio did not need to be torn down.

But it was a full four months after the fire before I realized that the main beams that rested on the cement piers were sound.

Floor joists were repairable

I could see for myself that the walls were unharmed and that only a few floor joists were burned badly enough to require being reinforced with other 2x10s lumber.

Floor repaired

The first major job was to repair the damaged floor joists and replace the broken plywood flooring.

We did not attempt to replace insulation between joists.

Testing undercoat sealer

After the floor, the first thing I did was to buy and test shellac-based undercoat paint that could permanently seal the odour and hide the black soot deposits on the wall.

Holes broken in the ceiling were the BIGGEST problem

The fire had spread to the roof outside the studio, not up through the wall, as the restoration expert had assumed.

Outside was a storage box which which had been ignited by the floor insulation.

Flames from the box had spread flames to the underside of the roof.

The big debate

I long considered only hiding the damaged ceiling and only using the main studio area on a three-season basis.

Bob to the rescue

In order to be able to regain year-round use the studio my son Bob commited to do the most of the back-breaking work of replacing the ceiling insulation, sealing that with plastic and covering all with gypsum board.

He had to do this while standing on a scaffold!

Kate and Bob

My daughter, Kate, came to put her mark on the studio during the first week in November.

After doing yard work Kate cleared up the tools and work table in the studio and did some plastering.

When Bob came on his weekly visit Kate screwed the gypsum panels to the ceiling joists while Bob held the panels in place.

Ceiling closed-in

When Bob returned the following Thursday he finished the gyprocking of the ceiling

Ready for plastering and painting

I was able to remove and seal off the destroyed south facing windows and insulated the new wall.

Bob finished the job by applying the gypsum panels on the third Thursday of November

Art Petch
Alpine Clayworks

Ottawa Pottery ALIVE
Private Facebook Group

ULCeramics.com
(ceramic decal printers website)

Ceramic printers and Decals
(Private Facebook Group)

The Fire Damage

Art Petch Alpine Clayworks Ottawa Pottery ALIVE Private Facebook Group

ULCeramics.com (ceramic decal printers website)

Ceramic printers and Decals (Private Facebook Group)

The Fire Damage

Art Petch
Alpine Clayworks

Ottawa Pottery ALIVE
Private Facebook Group

ULCeramics.com
(ceramic decal printers website)

Ceramic printers and Decals
(Private Facebook Group)