Repairing/Replacing the brick face on the house

[MinnesotaMike]

I need to repair the bricks on the front of my house, I would like to reuse the bicks that are not broken because of budget issues. This is not a load bearing wall.

When they built the house they started the bricks on top of the footings, this is a split entry, then poured the concrete walkway next to the bricks without any seperation. The sidewalk has since moved and is pulling the brick away from the house cracking some of the bricks.

I need to tear off the old bricks and rebuild the wall.

Question is: Is this a DIY project or do I need to get a contractor involved? I can be fairly handy and am not affraid to dig into a project.

What are some things I should keep an eye on??

Thx,

Mike

[davidbigreelz]

If you can place a chisel behind the bricks you can start tapping till they start to pop off but a lot will break, and it depends how whoever put them on did it. We have had to remove stucco and brick on two jobs last summer. Both times our guys cut the bricks and stucco into about 4'X4' pieces with a ceramic blade and circular saw. Then they just hammer and chiseled em off the wall. For the most part they both broke off in fairly big pieces but we were not worried about saving them.

NOTE: I say it depends on how it was put on because our bricks, they had no backing, it was just brick then plywood.

[Tom7227]

Before you get into this you may want to see if you can find bricks that match. Unless you're really lucky I suspect you are going to end up wrecking some and it sounds like some are already damaged. Depending on how old the house is you may have a tough time finding replacements. Your best bet is probably to go to a real brick dealer and see what they have that might work out.

If you can't match them maybe you can figure out a way to use some new bricks either as an accent or in a less conspicuous place.

I have a DeWalt angle grinder and I would bet that something like this would come in very handy to cut the joints. There are going to be some sort of metal jobberdos built into the joints every so often and you will have to deal with them to get things off the house.

I don't know a whole lot about brickwork but Tommy on This Old House has mentioned a number of times that it is important to use the right kind of mortar. Check into that to make sure that you get the right stuff.

I don't have the skill or the patience to do brickwork in a way that would look decent. If you haven't done it this may be one of those times where getting a pro in would make sense, especially since it's the front of the house.

[spikes dad]

I've dealt with this several times. First, make sure that you address the root cause, in this case sounds like the concrete sidewalk. Next measure the total square footage of area that is covered by the existing brick. dont kid yourself thinking that it will be economical to tear off and save the old brick (unless its just a few that new to be removed and replaced), then go to a local brick and/or stone supplier. If you look around, ask the right questions a lot of time you can find closeouts, short pallet returns, etc. that suppliers are willing to let go reasonable. Install the new stuff properly and accordingly with what you find underneath once the old stuff is removed, this is gonna vary.

[Fairchild_82]

I'm a bricklayer. It could be one of a few things. Most likely it's the stoop doing all the damage; possibly your brick ledge.. Rent a grinder and grind all the joints. top to bottom. (bead joints first then heads) If you're planning on keeping the brick. If not, just put a crow bar behind the wall of bricks and pry the whole wall off. All the bricks will come off in one heavy piece. just make sure you pry off where the wall-ties are. but if it's an older home, they should pop pretty easily. good luck!

[MinnesotaMike]

Thanks Guys,

Looks like I might turn this one over to the pro's. I counted 600 plus bricks and it has a window and faucet coming out of it. I can see the foundation edge that the bricks are supposed to be on and it is the sidewalk that is pulling the wall away from the house.

I'll have to get some estimates and get'r done.

Thx,

Mike