Anyone here ever “unbricked” a house?
I’m getting ready to renovate a 25’x56′ single story house. The house belonged to my in-laws and was built with some butt-ugly bricks back in the sixties. The condition of the bricks is very poor also (they were used bricks from a previous demolition even before they were installed on the current home). As part of the renovation, I plan to move some windows and doors around (whole new floor plan) and it would be alot easier to do that with the brick siding removed, giving me another reason to want to “unbrick” the thing. This house also has an exterior fireplace but the firebox is relatively small and won’t hold a very big log. Of course, that just gives me even more incentive to pursue this idea.
Has anyone here ever removed all of the bricks from a house and replaced them with new bricks or another type of siding? I considered paint, but I haven’t seen too many painted bricks that didn’t look like something out of a slum. I also thought about installing vinyl siding over the bricks, but I’ve been advised against it by a contractor who’s had a lot of experience with vinyl. I’d appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Michael
Replies
Haven't done it, but I don't see why it would be much harder than removing any other siding except for the weight
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I debricked a house when I was 14. The HO was savings the bricks so we had to stack them when we were done. Wasnt to hard just start at the top and go.
If I remember correctly, I dont think I could lift my arms at the end of the day.
Never a whole house at once. I have had the opportunity to remove a brick veneer from the front of two homes and went back with lap siding around the entire house.
There was nothing particularly difficult about it other then heft of moving all that brick.
You could look around and see if a salvage company would have any interest in it, which might help mitigate the expense of disposal. From the sounds of it though it doesn't sound likely.
If salvage is not an option, my suggestion would be to have a roll off placed as close as possible to the house and have one guy running a wheelbarrow for every one guy removing the brick. Have two wheel barrows, one to fill and one to run. A roll off with a front door is a must. you'll also need to check with the people you order it from how far they will let you fill it with brick due the weight.
we have a roll-off container supplier that gives us a break on "masonry only" filled cans. he takes the material back to his shop and crushes it in his crusher and then sells the crushings as fill.
for us, the cost of the containers would be a small fraction of the labor to remove the bricks.
carpenter in transition
No reason not to if you really don't like the brick.
Personally, I'd hire two or four of the biggest, dumbest, strongest MF'ers I could find, harness a pair of them to the staging, and then attach hardhats and wheelbarrows to the other two. I'd give the guys on the staging a day's head start so the two ground guys would escape without butchering my W/C rates. I'd then order a couple 10 or 15 yd cans (you'll be paying by the ton and not the volume anyway) and stand back and try to conduct the whole mess.
But that's just me.
Watched it done...
It wasn't pretty 'cause there wasn't any organization and stuff was falling everywhere.
I'd hire a demolition company to handle it all. You'll be surprised how fast and effective the pros will be.
Troy Sprout
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
Oscar Wilde
I just "un bricked " the front of my 1973 single story as a solo project. After an hour of slow progress with a hammer and cold chisel, I tried an air hammer, Wo hooo! That was like cutting butter with a hot knife! I finished about 30 feet of brick in no time. The hard part was the clean up, bricks and cement dust everywhere! But it worked great. Bet my brick was uglier than yours! My new front is now brown stucco and El Dorado stone. If I had a nickle for every compliment the new front has gotten, I could pay for the haul off fees!
I did the same as Planeman but used an electric hammer. Same result, came off the house easily and quickly. As others have stated, the clean up is where the work is.
Mike Merisko
http://www.sawkerfs.com
I've done sections of walls. Take a concrete saw and set the depth at the same as the bricks. Cut it in sections from top to bottom. 2, 3, or 4 foot wide. Experiment with what your comfortable with. They will come out in strips. Makes it much faster.
Pardon my fat fingers.
http://www.hay98.com/
I truly appreciate all of the great responses that you guys have offered. Your input means a lot to me.
Thanks,
Michael
I'd go ask a couple of local brick masons if they'd like the work and the brick (what may be ugly to you might be just the hing for somebody else).
Otherwise, you want some pallets, cheap. Don't stack the removed brick more than 3' tall (and save any cut "halfs" into the middle; save any solid sill brick, too).
You guys have given me some great tips. However, once the old brick is gone I'll obviously have to re-side the house. I'd prefer to replace the old bricks with new ones or install a new brick skirt and a quality vinyl siding. Brick siding would probably add more overall value, but the vinyl has advantages too. Which would you go back with? New brick or vinyl siding?
Michael
As someone else mentioned...air hammer..those babies fly off...just a little ppffffwwwwoouupp (that's my air sound you can't hear it I assume) with the pointed chisel. I removed the butt ugly bricks from a '77 ranch only about a mid-wall install...so height wasn't an issue. I had a single axle trailer...just pop the brick off, toss in trailer, repeat as necessary til done. I was amazed at how fast it progressed.What to re-side with? I'm a Hardie whore...Good luck, stay safe...Rip
Edited 11/15/2006 12:15 pm by RippySkippy
If you take the brick off yourself, I'd suggest handling the brick as litle as possible. Like when you take it off throw it right into a dump truck if possible. Or throw it into a wheelbarrow and take it directly to the truck or dumpster. Don't knock it all on the ground and try to pick it up later.If you ask aruond, you might find someplace you can dump the brick for free. Around here there are always farmers looking for bricks or concrete to fill in a ditch or make a creek crossing. I don't know where you live, but it's worth asking around about.
I doubt, therefore I might be.
Which would you go back with? New brick or vinyl siding?
I don't really consider vinyl siding a building product.
Not knowing what your house looks like, you may look at various new alternatives. Since you're open to a base band and siding look, consider a stone base cap with a continous limestone cap, and then continue up the exterior with a fibercement siding. Look at the shingle look, or just the regular horizontal look. If your soffits extend out 2' +/- this band look helps to give your home a horizontal rhythym. You can also look at some of the vinyl sidings that have come out with the shingle look also.
The house I'm speaking of is a 26'x56' rectangular shaped house. Looks like a doublewide without the wheels, but it does have a 6/12 roof (typical FHA home from the 60's). It's currently a 4 bd-2bth with a lot of wasted space due to the floorplan. I'm already working on a new floorplan that will likely put two bedrooms on one end and the master suite on the other. My wife and I "inherited" this house and we plan to gut the interior and move some walls around. We'll be selling our current home to our daughter and her family and moving in the remodeled home when the project is done. There's just my wife and I, so we don't need 4 bedrooms. Instead, we plan to convert the house to a 3 bd-2bth. The master bed and bath will be enlarged and one of the bedrooms will end up serving as an office/study. In addition to removing the "butt-ugly" bricks and replacing the siding, I plan to bring the wiring and plumbing up to code. Besides a new service entrance, there'll be low-voltage voice/data/video throughout, a whirlpool tub, and a few extra bells and whistles in the kitchen and laundry room. This house will also be getting a new HVAC system (probably a package heat pump w/crawlspace ducting). I'll be doing just about all the work myself, including the mechanical. We can do that here in South Carolina as long as we accept liability for it. I've always been a DIY'er. I'm not as experienced as the contractors I could hire, but I suspect that I'll put more effort into most of it than they would. After all, I've got to live with it when I'm done. And it'll be quite a bit cheaper if I don't go tool crazy like I usually do.
By the way, I'm surprised to see a thumbs down for vinyl siding from some of you. Maybe I'm naive, but I consider vinyl to be an excellent option if it's done right.
Thanks again for the input from all of you. You're a great bunch.
Michael
Yep, cement render (stucco?) is the way to go. Super smooth or rough, it's up to you.Just completed a 300 square metre reno which was a mixture of brick veneer, concrete block and timber frame sheathed with Cement sheet.Onle layer of about 3-5 mm thinset, applied and then wet broomed vertically to give me a "mexican" look and 3 coats of paint, presto the whole deal looked like a million dollars.You can also mix and match other finishes like stone tile veneer stuck on the the brick for beltrails, quoins and detailing around windows and doors. You can have troweled acrylic finishes over render (granosite) or use heavy or light textured paints (rolled on with a fibreglass roller).Rendering your home will give you plenty of options for a clean modern look with the horizontal lines you want.Cheers
Rick Rakauskas
Piece of cake. We just did 40 lf of wall 9' high in 2 hours a couple weeks ago to make room for an addition. Gas powered concrete saw, sledgehammers, and a bobcat bucket to drop them in makes it easy. I've also watched some guys do a whole house once to ready it for moving.
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
How about stucco? Done right over the ugly bick.....just an option.
You can stucco over your bricks, change what you will, & then stucco it. Advantage is minor demolition, no dumpster, etc.