Brick removal

[Dia]

What's the best way to go about removing the two front rows of floor brick? I like the back two rows and don't want them destroyed.

IMG_20181124_233105.jpg (71.68 KiB) Viewed 50 times

[A. Spruce]

Well, first you buy a keg of beer, then Nutzy, Aaron, Dan, Shannon, and myself come over to assess the situation. Then, we supervise dear hubby as he does the work!

Those front two rows should actually pop out of there pretty easy without damaging the rest. Odds are, the two courses you want to remove were not part of the original anyway, making them even easier to remove.

First off, lay out a couple tarps to catch errant debris, then tape heavy cardboard down on the floor around the brick to be removed, this will keep from damaging the surrounding floor. Take a heavy hammer and cold chisel and work the line where the mortar meets the first brick in the row, you're probably going to be able to pop the brick or large pieces of it out with relative ease.

Work carefully and sweep up often to prevent grinding debris into the tarps and floor underneath. If you're working over a slab floor, you should be able to work the cold chisel along the slab and mortar holding the brick to the floor. A wider brick chisel may be of benefit here, larger surface will work faster and dig in less than a 1" cold chisel.

[Shannon]

Yup the beauty of this is you have that first row to experiment with before you get to the one against the row you do not wanna damage. You will have things figured out by then. If the rows do not want to separate from each other you could use a grinder with a segmented diamond blade to make a cut along the mortar line to help them separate easier but this will be very dusty. Have hubby hold the shop vac hose right behind the blade as you make the cut to get most of the dust.