The works begun in spring 2010 by collecting the building material from the houses in Kadriorg and Nõmme that were going to be demolished.
Our purpose was to build ourselves and to enjoy the process. Very important was the social dimension - to get to know each other and to learn from each other. All the work was made in evenings and at weekends, as everybody had also their main occupation.
The foundation of the fireplace and working surface was made 80 cm deep. Building that big limestone wall was a new experience for all of us. As grout we used traditional hydraulic lime plaster. Sorting the limestones of different thickness and building the wall took more time than we first thought.
We also had no previous experiences on building a fireplace, but we were sure that we wanted the Rumford fireplace that has the best reflection capacity.
The Rumford fireplace was very popular in 19th century and is constructed by Count Rumford. The fireplace has a shallow back and steeply angled sides, so the heat will be reflected into the room. There will be no turbulence in the Rumford fireplace. This type of fireplace can be also built of clay and sand that gives the possibility to make the outside surface of the fireplace with curvy forms. This possibility is very popular within the natural builders.
So the back wall of our fireplace is made of rammed earth - clay, sand and gravel. That made the process easier.