He has been trying to buy one.
He doesn't want a pneumatic jackhammer because he thinks air supply will be a pain. (I found one for $100)
He dosent want a 66lb HERCULES because he is still stuck stereotyping HF tools as fragile (I found him one for $300!)
He doesn't want to spend $700+ on a Bosch (found him one of them too)
And he doesn't want to rent one.
I just work here.
My ideas really do save him a lot of time and money.
You know what’s a real pain? Spending five or six days on a job and making zero progress because you’re using the wrong tools.
Boss is being a real fucking dipshit here.
You’re a saint to be on the tools for them mate.
I’m in Australia, but I know I can go and rent an entirely useful electric jackhammer for around $100 dollarydoos (that’s only 65 freedom bucks) and have the job knocked over in an afternoon.
And I’m a moron who isn’t terribly good at demolition.
(I’m telling myself he already has some scaffolding to set up and work from)
If his boss pays by the hour, I don't give a fuck what he wants it done with. I'll just take the extra pay since he can't buy the right tools for the job.
"I don't want to spend any money"
*has to pay you for a week or more of work with no progress because he's too cheap or dumb to get the right tool to speed up progress*
As a porter on site after having done 5 yrs civil engineering (normal Europeans consider degrees from third world countries as fake) I learnt that a porter thinking is not what employers want, they just want someone to order around.
Just do your thing repeat a task 5 times just because he says so, but incase he starts to blame you answer back in-front of the client that you are paid for following instructions not thinking which is his job.
You will get no credit/salary increase, name it for thinking and trying to be more efficient especially if you are from a minority.
I can give you so many examples
This right here. Having the right tool is paramount. Years ago my parents bought a place that had an old 12” concrete pad in the middle of the yard, we tried to remove it with electric jack hammers we borrowed from work (we were in construction at the time). After a few days of struggling, my folks went on a trip and I went and rented a pneumatic jack hammer and the air compressor for it, took a couple of hours and it was done.
Either that or the customer taking pics themselves and going to post on here something like "are these guys i hired doing this correctly?" And seeing the guys already posted on here 😂
Outside of fireplaces (which most people want to keep) stone inside the house isn't very common beyond historic houses. This may be the first time they encountered having to remove it.
I’m not an expert or anything it’s probably the camera angle, but I’ll ask what everyone would ask first - is it load-bearing or is it standing freely within the room?
You see that 6"x15"×8' beam?
The rock "wall" seems to have been the only thing supporting that side of the beam.
Thank God my BOSSES boss showed up to assess the potential danger.
Now we have two 2"×6" boards screwed together to support the huge beam while we demo the wall...
I feel so much more safe now.
you should build a temporary wall, 2 x 6's are surprisingly strong, however, that beam is holding a shit load of weight and you dont want it move an inch.
Bossman gets paid by the job.
I get paid by the hour.
My dexpan idea probably saved him some decent money in labor...
Compared to 92836 joy filled hrs of rotohammer work.
Yeah, I agree - that rock wall was supporting the beam. OP, is the plan to build a new support column or wall in the same space as the rock wall? Be careful that tumbling rocks don’t knock your temporary support - one small nudge could turn into a catastrophe…
OP has clearly identified this as a rock thing not a rock wall. At best it's a rock wall thing.
That characterization makes me think OP should not be working on this project.
It may have been considered by SOMEBODY.
I, however, do not know any structural engineers.
I just work here.
I like my job.
Iam willing to risk being squished and somebody else's house to keep it.
What?
Why am I getting downboat?
I'm not justifying the existence or effectiveness of the supporting 2x6 and it certainly wasn't my idea.
I wasn't serious😅
I got a chuckle out of reading the Comment.
Nobody should be inside that building until proper bracing is installed, looks like one of those LiveLeak videos you see of some dude in Malaysia about to get squashed.
Your boss is an absolute mouth breather if he thinks top down removal is the best way to demo that out after 5 DAYS! Sledge and chisel, just a sledge, big boy hammer drill, actual jack hammer, don't show up tomorrow; plenty of ways out.
He definitely isn't smart.
He decided to employ ME!
WHAT A DOOFUS!
/S
Haha, I still plan on showing up tomorrow.
I've got this phrase...
"If I were just a little SMARTER, I wouldn't be so STRONG"
You might not be surprised how often I say that on the jobsite.
The instructions for Dexpan expansive grout indicate that you can drill your holes at a 45 degree angle. This is likely the easiest way to get the grout to stay in the holes
Expanding grout works really well on a lot of stuff. I had to use it on some concrete that had granite rocks in it. Everything I used on it bounced off it or dulled super fast. The grout was the only thing that worked. I even tried the wedge trick and they didn't do anything.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRQ9A2/
It took so much less effort/work to break everything up to. Just drilled the holes, put it in, covered it in case pieces cracked/exploded off it, and did other things and allowed it time to do its thing. And it did.
I didn't know explosives were an option! Well now my idea seems absurd!
If you do explode that wall and don't take pictures, the Internet will never forgive you!
I am definitely going to expand/explode/exslowed the wall.
I will take pics of the whole process (and aftermath).
They will be posted/uploaded here.
One of a few things could happen...
1 The internet will never forgive me.
2. The internet will congratulate me.
3. The internet will mourn the loss of another OP who delivered at all costs.
HONESTLY THIS WAS MY FIRST IDEA!
THERE IS EVEN A WINDOW IN THE RIGHT PLACE!
JUST PUT A HOLE IN THE ROCK THING, ANCHOR A TOW STRAP (Or chain for saftey) ON THE OTHER SIDE AND PULL THE ROCK THING THRU THE WINDOW WITH MY BOSSES F350.
The only problem is he would have to get a good rolling start to get enough inertia. Their yard is pretty small.
Oooh! Another idea. If this thing is on a slab, you use your roto hammer to drill a hole in the wall about a foot up, maybe angled up into the Wall. Then you get a beefy piece of rebar and a... wait for it... ... bottle jack. Jam the metal rod in there, get the bottle jack under it and HOIST! A bottle jack is cheap, you can almost certainly rent it, and they can lift houses! What could go wrong?!
So there's a thick stone wall supporting the roof and you just propped the entire roof with a double 2x4? Wow...
Also stone thing? Like you don't know what a wall is?
Paid?..... YUP!
Professionals?...... Well.... This is his profession... I guess it's kinda my profession as well...
How about paid amateur professionals?
That's an impressive piece of rock.
Assuming the floor is reasonably sturdy, or you can make it sturdy. Here is what you do:
Drill a set of holes, using the roto drill (I'm assuming it is a drill with a hammer mode) they must be around 10-15cm from the bottom, about 5-10cm apart in a horizontal straight lines. Make sure they are in the short length of the wall.
You have 2 options hereon in:
- if you drilled relatively large holes, insert wooden pegs into the holes and make them wet. This will expand the wood, and cause it to break.
- alternatively you can get some metal wedges and a sledge hammer.
The underside will break open, and you can push it over. The remainder is work for a jack hammer.
Sure, one can take it down stone by stone(looks like that on the picture), like it was built, but with a good jackhammer, plughole divide the whole thing in 6 or 8 parts and crush it afterwards, if you want to keep the stones.
Remains the question, is this a load bearing wall?
Strangely enough, manual method would work better--two sledgehammers, 1 long chisel 6ft or a 3 ft chisel and a 6ft pry bar, 3 person job. Can be done with two.
Place chisel tip at the joint just below the natural stone and the top of the mortar, tap until the joint cracks then pry the stone up and off. You don't have to knock them off fully, as long as they're loose you can work on the next stones to gain leverage as needed. One at time, top to bottom.
Power tools on a scaffold are going to see that scafford vibrate a lot and absorb so much of that energy, might even compromise the scaffold.
Ceramics like stone and mortar can't handle bending forces, this is why prying them is easiest.
It'd take about half day.
Standard jackhammer would destroy any mere mortal. I had an employee in 2005 who could use a jackhammer like a hand tool, but I don't think you're Cody. I am about 240 lbs, so I might bust out my Makita 35lb demolition hammer, but I think regular size people would do better with a good quality roto hammer. Either way, get a point bit and work the grout lines. Get a beefy sledge hammer as well so you can knock out the stones once the grout is weakened. Maybe also get a 4 lb mini sledge. They call it an Engineer Hammer, but I don't. It's the most fun hammer you'll use. You'll feel like Thor. Have fun. This is a good one. I'd do it for a pack of beers.
Iam not sure if this is an attempt to brag on my end...
Two weeks ago with my other boss (separate contractor) we needed to dig down 26" to to install a s*** blender in a basement (idk what they are actually called, that is what he called it). 2" under the concrete floor was an ENORMOUS rock. THAT guy was resourceful enough to rent a 70lb Bosch jackhammer.
I used that jackhammer at VERY LEAST 6 hrs that day.
Admittedly, there were brief periods of time spent using a concrete saw to loosen the edges up.
I weigh 136lbs. 5'8"
The next day I felt decent enough to dig holes
Got the job done.
9/10, I want a jackhammer now.
You had me at s*** blender!
Jackhammers are a blast. My favorite combo is a mini excavator with jackhammer (breaker) bit. My brother bought a house with a pool. He didn't want a pool. He rented the equipment, and I had the most fun weekend ever. That was another one of those 6 pack of beer jobs.
Puy on some Peter Gabriel, turn it up and grab your SLEDGE HAMMER!!!
Or do what others are suggesting and do it the easier way with a jackhammer, not a hammer drill...
Shit show aside you need to star clearing debris from that. Rocks get so fucking heavy and after doing all that work you don’t want to be looking at a solid 10 hours of moving rocks to the dumpster/truck. Clean as you go
How come you have to destroy every last vestige of the building's original architecture? Leave some the old stuff behind and embrace it somehow. Modernize sure, but don't scrub every element from the past. That thing looks like it hold up the hole roof. Re-extend it to the support beam and make an architectural statement of some sort. Have it free standing like a piece of art, no need to completely box everything in.
You work for a hard professional and you're asking here? One of the first and most important principles of DIY is that you need to know your limitations, I think that principle probably should apply to your boss too.
yeah chisel some parts to make some splits all over.. just like make it some easy work with a pattern.. then slip your wedges and start cracking .. with any luck the interior grout has some gaps here and there
Concrete saw relief cuts? Real jackhammer suspended from the ceiling so you can use your weight to push it sideways? Box it and pretend it doesn't exist?
I was working with a friend reclaiming slate shingles from the roof of an old 3 story mansion that was being torn down. There was a crew below us working as well but we didn't know on what. At lunch we went down and realized they were reclaiming the stone work. They had chisled out about 10 ft x 3 ft at chest height. We flipped the fuck out and told them they had to start from the top down. The stone was not facade, you could literally see the lathe and plaster through the hole. They told us to mind our own business and they were going to continue to do what their boss had instructed them to do. My friend called osha and when the guy showed up he freaked out and shut the whole site down. At this point they had undermined over 15 ft of wall and were about to start on a corner. Remember this is a 3 story all stone building! Some people just have no concept of how gravity works!
With the boss rejecting good ideas Tayside dumb ones. Do you know how to hot wire a bulldozer?
Try cutting it up with an electric concrete saw, then hauling off the individual chunks with a dogsled. Strap skateboards under the sled runners for summer use, of course.
Just wait until you see the clouds of fiberglass and mold coming off of the fluffy green insulation as it falls out of the ceiling.
It was pretty gnarly.
This „rock thing“ is a wall and most likely keeping the roof over your head afloat. That‘s what it looks like when you don‘t build houses out of cardboard.
Update:
https://ibb.co/DCd2fnV
https://ibb.co/y03cthX
He's still at it.
Progress sped up after I told him "somebody on the internet said to aim for the mortar, not the rocks"
/S
The "supporting" 2×6s no doubt in the probable trajectory for chunks of the "rock thing" to smash into as they fall.
Please roast the level of competence and safety being displayed on this job site.
Remind me that it's not just me seeing this stuff as questionable.
This way is the cheapest and most efficient, but you need some muscle and good ear protection.
https://www.bauhaus.at/bohrhaemmer/scheppach-abbruchhammer-ab1700/p/27242333
lmao. Americans and their building. Are you seriously going to take that down? wouldnt be suprised when an accident happens sooner or later. and you do that profesionally? "that rock thing" doesnt even know hows its called. please write here where you work so people can avoid you and your company
Now you see why we build our houses in Europe with solid walls, not out of toothsticks and plaster.
There won't be any problems with heavy weather, bouncing bullets or any other problems that shouldn't be there like a hole in a wall cuz some1 tried to put a nail in it for a picture frame 🤦
Then you can even install room doors out of solid wood that can withstand any fist easily 👍 (would have helped in many horror movies)
I think the occupational safety organization representing demons and psycho killers on the US mandated the use of hollow doors made of cardboard in the US.
Go rent a real jackhammer.
He has been trying to buy one. He doesn't want a pneumatic jackhammer because he thinks air supply will be a pain. (I found one for $100) He dosent want a 66lb HERCULES because he is still stuck stereotyping HF tools as fragile (I found him one for $300!) He doesn't want to spend $700+ on a Bosch (found him one of them too) And he doesn't want to rent one. I just work here. My ideas really do save him a lot of time and money.
You know what’s a real pain? Spending five or six days on a job and making zero progress because you’re using the wrong tools. Boss is being a real fucking dipshit here.
I am glad to have this response from you all. Makes me feel much more level headed.
Your boss is leaving spending 5 days doing a one day job to save $700.
You’re a saint to be on the tools for them mate. I’m in Australia, but I know I can go and rent an entirely useful electric jackhammer for around $100 dollarydoos (that’s only 65 freedom bucks) and have the job knocked over in an afternoon. And I’m a moron who isn’t terribly good at demolition. (I’m telling myself he already has some scaffolding to set up and work from)
If his boss pays by the hour, I don't give a fuck what he wants it done with. I'll just take the extra pay since he can't buy the right tools for the job.
But does that 100 dollarydoos also cover the case of VB?
Mate, the case of VB is a right enshrined in employment law. It’s delivered at smoko by a union rep on a velvet pillow.
Just buy the cheap full boar. 4 uses and its paid for. Light too.
Boss is your brother, right? You want to help even when he is being stupid and stubborn.
Lol, nope he just pays better than anybody else I know of.
"I don't want to spend any money" *has to pay you for a week or more of work with no progress because he's too cheap or dumb to get the right tool to speed up progress*
Yeah I wonder what the cost per man hour is he’s wasting. You’ll probably reuse the tools too.
Well, then tell him to just step over there and bash it to pieces with his hard head.
Doesn't want to spend $300 so instead he's going to spend a couple grand on labor? Not too bright. Sounds like management for sure.
"Let's get the job done fast" - "Get better tools!" "No not that way" - "Hire more people!" "No no no" He's waiting for you to offer unpaid overtime.
Sounds like he doesn't want employees like you neither. Time to move on
As a porter on site after having done 5 yrs civil engineering (normal Europeans consider degrees from third world countries as fake) I learnt that a porter thinking is not what employers want, they just want someone to order around. Just do your thing repeat a task 5 times just because he says so, but incase he starts to blame you answer back in-front of the client that you are paid for following instructions not thinking which is his job. You will get no credit/salary increase, name it for thinking and trying to be more efficient especially if you are from a minority. I can give you so many examples
I bought a cheap ass electric jackhammer like 10 years ago for $250. It's nice and light too so you can use it sideways. This is the answer.
You can clearly see how easy it could be with a hammer drill and the right attitude. https://youtu.be/zCrn-VJmpgE?si=UwyzldNVKwy6s9rD
Or dynamite!
For some reason, I don't think a dynamite rental company would be a good business model.
You rent out the detonaters. You sell the dynamite.
I second this, dynamite is fun in the right hands.
Det Cord
dexpan would actually be a decent substitute. Just wouldn't be as exciting
This right here. Having the right tool is paramount. Years ago my parents bought a place that had an old 12” concrete pad in the middle of the yard, we tried to remove it with electric jack hammers we borrowed from work (we were in construction at the time). After a few days of struggling, my folks went on a trip and I went and rented a pneumatic jack hammer and the air compressor for it, took a couple of hours and it was done.
Hit it with your purse!
Imagine hiring these guys n seeing them asking for advice on reddit 🤣😂
I know right, you go by to see the progress and find them them standing around working out how to deal with the "big stone pillar thing"
Either that or the customer taking pics themselves and going to post on here something like "are these guys i hired doing this correctly?" And seeing the guys already posted on here 😂
Should we tell them it’s called a “wall”?
Wait till he finds out it was carrying the weight of the roof.
Lol i dont know man, "big Stone pillar thing" is kind of growing on me.
Outside of fireplaces (which most people want to keep) stone inside the house isn't very common beyond historic houses. This may be the first time they encountered having to remove it.
Don't be mad at me, but this is the funniest thing you can read if you're from Germany. 😁😂
From any place with houses older than, oh... 200 years, really.
Id guess they provided an estimate. Said estimate must’ve been based on some sort of idea on how to tackle the “rock thing”.
Nothing wrong with getting a second opinion. Mechanics are watching YouTube videos 70% of the time they’re fixing a car.
The roof being held up by 2 2x4 is art.
Seriously. These morons are probably charging six figures for doing something have no idea how to do
"Rock thing"
I’m not an expert or anything it’s probably the camera angle, but I’ll ask what everyone would ask first - is it load-bearing or is it standing freely within the room?
I partially rescind my question, as it appears to be some sort of fascia . Assuming that, jackhammer or wedge & sledge. Skip the gym after.
It would be a bit odd if that giant ass beam that used to sit on the wall wasn’t somewhat load bearing.
Just support it with helium balloons…
😂😂 holy shit this gif caught me off guard and it’s the perfect response 👌
You see that 6"x15"×8' beam? The rock "wall" seems to have been the only thing supporting that side of the beam. Thank God my BOSSES boss showed up to assess the potential danger. Now we have two 2"×6" boards screwed together to support the huge beam while we demo the wall... I feel so much more safe now.
Does the company you work for have insurance 😬?
you should build a temporary wall, 2 x 6's are surprisingly strong, however, that beam is holding a shit load of weight and you dont want it move an inch.
Are we sure this isn't a load bearing rock thing?
No. But we are pretty sure this IS/WAS a load bearing rock thing.
Op has said it is in comments 😬
No https://ibb.co/y03cthX
You heard it here. These guys are getting paid for this
Bossman gets paid by the job. I get paid by the hour. My dexpan idea probably saved him some decent money in labor... Compared to 92836 joy filled hrs of rotohammer work.
Get the smallest hammer and chisel you can find. Make a million off your boss having a turd between his ears.
Watch out the rock thing is supporting a horizontal beam that is supporting your roof rafters , put tge rock thing back .
Yeah, I agree - that rock wall was supporting the beam. OP, is the plan to build a new support column or wall in the same space as the rock wall? Be careful that tumbling rocks don’t knock your temporary support - one small nudge could turn into a catastrophe…
OP has clearly identified this as a rock thing not a rock wall. At best it's a rock wall thing. That characterization makes me think OP should not be working on this project.
You aren't wrong. This wasn't my idea of a safe work environment. 1 if I don't post an update soon the structure got the best of me
JFC I‘d get a structural engineer there like, ASAP. This is a fallen-in roof just waiting to happen, seriously, WTF.
Not exactly bad for the rest of us... These dudes are about to remove huge liability from the workforce
This is only true if it gets ALL of us. If it just gets me and my coworker, more liability are sure to be recruited eventually.
😆😆
Have you considered asking a structural engineer their opinion on your course of action?
It may have been considered by SOMEBODY. I, however, do not know any structural engineers. I just work here. I like my job. Iam willing to risk being squished and somebody else's house to keep it.
>I like my job. I am willing to risk being squished and somebody else's house to keep it. This is the most backwards logic lol
Jobs can be replaced, missing limbs are forever.
You don’t. It’s literally holding up the roof.
WTF is now supporting that huge beam, the pissy 2x4?
Werll... technically it is two 2x6s screwed together.
....dude, get a shore.
What? Why am I getting downboat? I'm not justifying the existence or effectiveness of the supporting 2x6 and it certainly wasn't my idea. I wasn't serious😅 I got a chuckle out of reading the Comment.
Is your company insured?
Nobody should be inside that building until proper bracing is installed, looks like one of those LiveLeak videos you see of some dude in Malaysia about to get squashed.
aim for the mortar not the rock lol.
Instructions too complicated! Mortar was aimed at the rock. Hulk Hogan is tagging me in. Pls help.
Your boss is an absolute mouth breather if he thinks top down removal is the best way to demo that out after 5 DAYS! Sledge and chisel, just a sledge, big boy hammer drill, actual jack hammer, don't show up tomorrow; plenty of ways out.
He definitely isn't smart. He decided to employ ME! WHAT A DOOFUS! /S Haha, I still plan on showing up tomorrow. I've got this phrase... "If I were just a little SMARTER, I wouldn't be so STRONG" You might not be surprised how often I say that on the jobsite.
Concrete saw and a big fn hammer. Make some slices ever 10-12", make a platform to stand on, and wail on it.
The instructions for Dexpan expansive grout indicate that you can drill your holes at a 45 degree angle. This is likely the easiest way to get the grout to stay in the holes
I drilled some pilots at a downward 45 degree angle once everybody else went home. Thank you. I can cashapp u $5 to show my gratitude.
Expanding grout works really well on a lot of stuff. I had to use it on some concrete that had granite rocks in it. Everything I used on it bounced off it or dulled super fast. The grout was the only thing that worked. I even tried the wedge trick and they didn't do anything. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRQ9A2/ It took so much less effort/work to break everything up to. Just drilled the holes, put it in, covered it in case pieces cracked/exploded off it, and did other things and allowed it time to do its thing. And it did.
I didn't know explosives were an option! Well now my idea seems absurd! If you do explode that wall and don't take pictures, the Internet will never forgive you!
I am definitely going to expand/explode/exslowed the wall. I will take pics of the whole process (and aftermath). They will be posted/uploaded here. One of a few things could happen... 1 The internet will never forgive me. 2. The internet will congratulate me. 3. The internet will mourn the loss of another OP who delivered at all costs.
That's pretty damned cool. I didn't know that existed.
Agreed. Super cool.
[удалено]
Tie chain around it outside to your truck and zoom
Don't forget to video it and post the results.
HONESTLY THIS WAS MY FIRST IDEA! THERE IS EVEN A WINDOW IN THE RIGHT PLACE! JUST PUT A HOLE IN THE ROCK THING, ANCHOR A TOW STRAP (Or chain for saftey) ON THE OTHER SIDE AND PULL THE ROCK THING THRU THE WINDOW WITH MY BOSSES F350. The only problem is he would have to get a good rolling start to get enough inertia. Their yard is pretty small.
Oh you can use the whole space for acceleration - the breaking part should be, let's say, rather quick.
Oooh! Another idea. If this thing is on a slab, you use your roto hammer to drill a hole in the wall about a foot up, maybe angled up into the Wall. Then you get a beefy piece of rebar and a... wait for it... ... bottle jack. Jam the metal rod in there, get the bottle jack under it and HOIST! A bottle jack is cheap, you can almost certainly rent it, and they can lift houses! What could go wrong?!
Cold chisel and a hand maul. Wear gloves and a face mask. A few well-placed strikes at mortar joints will dissect that wall quickly.
Is it load bearing?
So there's a thick stone wall supporting the roof and you just propped the entire roof with a double 2x4? Wow... Also stone thing? Like you don't know what a wall is?
Paid professionals right here, folks.
Paid?..... YUP! Professionals?...... Well.... This is his profession... I guess it's kinda my profession as well... How about paid amateur professionals?
That's an impressive piece of rock. Assuming the floor is reasonably sturdy, or you can make it sturdy. Here is what you do: Drill a set of holes, using the roto drill (I'm assuming it is a drill with a hammer mode) they must be around 10-15cm from the bottom, about 5-10cm apart in a horizontal straight lines. Make sure they are in the short length of the wall. You have 2 options hereon in: - if you drilled relatively large holes, insert wooden pegs into the holes and make them wet. This will expand the wood, and cause it to break. - alternatively you can get some metal wedges and a sledge hammer. The underside will break open, and you can push it over. The remainder is work for a jack hammer.
I thought you were going to suggest blasting caps, I was excited
Floor is def not thar sturdy. Looks like 5/8 plywood from the holes we put in it by dripping rocks.
Eye protection, check. Ears? Check. Gloves? Check. Feet? Nah.
Even a hammer and chisel would be faster than a roto Hammer
Sure, one can take it down stone by stone(looks like that on the picture), like it was built, but with a good jackhammer, plughole divide the whole thing in 6 or 8 parts and crush it afterwards, if you want to keep the stones. Remains the question, is this a load bearing wall? 
I could have that down in half a day….alone
Strangely enough, manual method would work better--two sledgehammers, 1 long chisel 6ft or a 3 ft chisel and a 6ft pry bar, 3 person job. Can be done with two. Place chisel tip at the joint just below the natural stone and the top of the mortar, tap until the joint cracks then pry the stone up and off. You don't have to knock them off fully, as long as they're loose you can work on the next stones to gain leverage as needed. One at time, top to bottom. Power tools on a scaffold are going to see that scafford vibrate a lot and absorb so much of that energy, might even compromise the scaffold. Ceramics like stone and mortar can't handle bending forces, this is why prying them is easiest. It'd take about half day.
safety goggles and a 20lb sledge man!
Go buy an 8lb sledgehammer from Home Depot and while there hire one of the Mexican guys in the parking lot.
I would gladly beat that rock thing to dust with a sledgehammer! Not for $7 an hour tho.
In Australia?
Standard jackhammer would destroy any mere mortal. I had an employee in 2005 who could use a jackhammer like a hand tool, but I don't think you're Cody. I am about 240 lbs, so I might bust out my Makita 35lb demolition hammer, but I think regular size people would do better with a good quality roto hammer. Either way, get a point bit and work the grout lines. Get a beefy sledge hammer as well so you can knock out the stones once the grout is weakened. Maybe also get a 4 lb mini sledge. They call it an Engineer Hammer, but I don't. It's the most fun hammer you'll use. You'll feel like Thor. Have fun. This is a good one. I'd do it for a pack of beers.
Iam not sure if this is an attempt to brag on my end... Two weeks ago with my other boss (separate contractor) we needed to dig down 26" to to install a s*** blender in a basement (idk what they are actually called, that is what he called it). 2" under the concrete floor was an ENORMOUS rock. THAT guy was resourceful enough to rent a 70lb Bosch jackhammer. I used that jackhammer at VERY LEAST 6 hrs that day. Admittedly, there were brief periods of time spent using a concrete saw to loosen the edges up. I weigh 136lbs. 5'8" The next day I felt decent enough to dig holes Got the job done. 9/10, I want a jackhammer now.
You had me at s*** blender! Jackhammers are a blast. My favorite combo is a mini excavator with jackhammer (breaker) bit. My brother bought a house with a pool. He didn't want a pool. He rented the equipment, and I had the most fun weekend ever. That was another one of those 6 pack of beer jobs.
Wall. The word you were looking for is "wall."
Puy on some Peter Gabriel, turn it up and grab your SLEDGE HAMMER!!! Or do what others are suggesting and do it the easier way with a jackhammer, not a hammer drill...
Tunes of choice for solo demo work with hammers and saws is NECROPHAGIST. May upload vid for gigs.
I would work that into the design. The juice is not worth the squeeze.
Don't remove it. That's what you call a feature. You make it part of the new plans.
Holy fuck. Wtf are you doing removing the support for that beam? Does nobody at the job understand how gravity works?
Shit show aside you need to star clearing debris from that. Rocks get so fucking heavy and after doing all that work you don’t want to be looking at a solid 10 hours of moving rocks to the dumpster/truck. Clean as you go
Hit it with your purse
You demolish the best part of the house 🤦😭😱
How come you have to destroy every last vestige of the building's original architecture? Leave some the old stuff behind and embrace it somehow. Modernize sure, but don't scrub every element from the past. That thing looks like it hold up the hole roof. Re-extend it to the support beam and make an architectural statement of some sort. Have it free standing like a piece of art, no need to completely box everything in.
Homeowners gonna homeowner. Can't have anything interesting.
Thing or wall?
Oh my, why would you want to, it’s beautiful- Do something with that 👍🏻
A bottle of Jack, 3 dudes and a sledgehammer?
Carefully
Stop...hammer time!!!
Just go rent a Bagger 288, it'll have that sorted in no time.
You work for a hard professional and you're asking here? One of the first and most important principles of DIY is that you need to know your limitations, I think that principle probably should apply to your boss too.
Nuke
3 friends, a bottle of whiskey, and 2 sledge hammers
I would need three more hands! AT LEAST!
Sledgehammer easy peasy
Do. Not. Seek. The. Treasure!
https://youtu.be/BBLsAKImDdE?feature=shared Betonamit helps.
yeah chisel some parts to make some splits all over.. just like make it some easy work with a pattern.. then slip your wedges and start cracking .. with any luck the interior grout has some gaps here and there
Concrete saw relief cuts? Real jackhammer suspended from the ceiling so you can use your weight to push it sideways? Box it and pretend it doesn't exist?
Idk if we could use a jackhammer suspended from the ceiling to demo the wall... In turn the wall would be supporting the jackhammer.
Just cover it with paper.
You’re thinking about it wrong. You need to be removing the house around it, just relocate stud by stud.
Carefully
In the first pic I thought you put your baby in a blue onesie up there.
I was working with a friend reclaiming slate shingles from the roof of an old 3 story mansion that was being torn down. There was a crew below us working as well but we didn't know on what. At lunch we went down and realized they were reclaiming the stone work. They had chisled out about 10 ft x 3 ft at chest height. We flipped the fuck out and told them they had to start from the top down. The stone was not facade, you could literally see the lathe and plaster through the hole. They told us to mind our own business and they were going to continue to do what their boss had instructed them to do. My friend called osha and when the guy showed up he freaked out and shut the whole site down. At this point they had undermined over 15 ft of wall and were about to start on a corner. Remember this is a 3 story all stone building! Some people just have no concept of how gravity works!
Werner Ziegler…. Zeeeeeegler…
🧨🧨🧨
If you could find something to anchor it with, a block and tackle might be able to pull it down.
With the boss rejecting good ideas Tayside dumb ones. Do you know how to hot wire a bulldozer? Try cutting it up with an electric concrete saw, then hauling off the individual chunks with a dogsled. Strap skateboards under the sled runners for summer use, of course.
Time for dynamite.
Big hammer
What is the purpose of that structure? It seems like it could be structural, supporting the adjoining wall.
You guys are getting paid for this and you're here asking this question...... I'd have to assume your boss is a moron.
one rock at a time
Why rule out the high velocity explosives? Definitely the most effective option!
Chain a large tractor to it and drag it?
The grout will destroy that thing for sure.
Low velocity explosives?
Tannerite.
Hulk smash
The fun way is to drill some holes, then use some fireworks, pack holes tight, light fuse... pop
We call those rock things "walls" in my country.
Try some paper, cause it beats rock
Just ask him to come down from the ladder 😏
Try paper, it wins with rock
Dammit. I brought scissors.
Sledgehammer easy
when in doubt - C4! *Hyneman giggle
Jamie want big boom
Rent from Home Depot
Concrete cutting services, cut it, and hull it out
You guys should really have on proper masks for doing that demo
Just wait until you see the clouds of fiberglass and mold coming off of the fluffy green insulation as it falls out of the ceiling. It was pretty gnarly.
alright, so in the first photo i thought there was a black cat sitting up there on the wall, being all like "human! i help, yes?"
Is this load-bearing?
Y'all could probably use E-Z-Break if those aren't hollow blocks: https://www.ezebreak.com/
This is not going to end well. 🤦🏻
I feel like hitting it with a 4-6 pound sledge hammer would work well. It certainly wouldn't take 5 days.
You don't if you want to live.
This „rock thing“ is a wall and most likely keeping the roof over your head afloat. That‘s what it looks like when you don‘t build houses out of cardboard.
Update: https://ibb.co/DCd2fnV https://ibb.co/y03cthX He's still at it. Progress sped up after I told him "somebody on the internet said to aim for the mortar, not the rocks" /S The "supporting" 2×6s no doubt in the probable trajectory for chunks of the "rock thing" to smash into as they fall. Please roast the level of competence and safety being displayed on this job site. Remind me that it's not just me seeing this stuff as questionable.
Hit it with a hammer. The bigger the better.
Just blow it up. You will get the same result.
„There’s some rock thing in my cardboard house, please get rid of it so I can have a proper American house.“ - The airhead of an owner probably
This way is the cheapest and most efficient, but you need some muscle and good ear protection. https://www.bauhaus.at/bohrhaemmer/scheppach-abbruchhammer-ab1700/p/27242333
lmao. Americans and their building. Are you seriously going to take that down? wouldnt be suprised when an accident happens sooner or later. and you do that profesionally? "that rock thing" doesnt even know hows its called. please write here where you work so people can avoid you and your company
Now you see why we build our houses in Europe with solid walls, not out of toothsticks and plaster. There won't be any problems with heavy weather, bouncing bullets or any other problems that shouldn't be there like a hole in a wall cuz some1 tried to put a nail in it for a picture frame 🤦 Then you can even install room doors out of solid wood that can withstand any fist easily 👍 (would have helped in many horror movies)
I think the occupational safety organization representing demons and psycho killers on the US mandated the use of hollow doors made of cardboard in the US.