Thread: Timber Shelf/Bar

I think you have answered your own question. Those wedge shapes you have can be screwed into the sill bricks with plastic plugs. Then screw the Black Butt on them and use timber plugs to conceal the fixings. The exposed ends of the wedges could be "covered up" with a Black Butt "Fascia" piece... job done.
How much out of level is the window? If its a lot you may have to put the Black Butt in out of level a little to "fool" the eye. If you put it in level the "mistake" will stick out like the reproductive anatomy of a male dog

Hmmmm, thanks, yes you are on the money that is exactly what I want to do. The sill bricks are not level, not sure about the window! The sill bricks on the right are lower by 10mm to the ones on the left, across the space of 1.8m (window width ish)

Check where the window is and make that your "Datum" and vary the wedges to suit the new level. Get it right and the wife will think you are Superman

Sounds like the sill bricks are redundant for any weathering purpose. They shouldn't be difficult to take out. Remove the mortar around one using a combo of drilling it out and scraping with a hacksaw blade or similar. You will probably find the joints aren't fully filled anyway. Once one is out the rest should come out easily with a knock sideways. The sill bricks shouldn't be weight bearing, the window frame should be fixed through the sides into the wall framing/bricks.

You could then position the bar piece against the bottom of the widow frame and simply brick in underneath. (edit) Actually I think I would brick in with enough space to slide the bar piece under the window, then with a layer of mortar on top of the bricks knock the bar into place and level it on the mortar.

Hello Fuzzie. I am going to go this route after weeks of fiddling with wood still. I have cut with an angle grinder around the render back to the brick so hopefully no cracks appear in the other render. I have tried knocking a brick out to no avail. I am using a heavy hammer (square faced) How much ooopmf do I need to give it and or should I be using a bigger hammer? Or keep at it with a bolster and existing hammer. I mean how much mortar/render could there be?! Also do I need to go back to brick through the render or is 90% enough? Meaning some parts my grinder disc (125mm) wont go all the way due to angles etc... Thanks!

Hi Jeff, Demolition is always full of unknowns. With brickwork the unknowns are usually the strength of render and mortar, some being softer than others.

In your case I think it sounds like you have made a grinder cut all the way around the sill bricks isolating them from the render on the vertical face of the wall.

Have you then cut into the mortar joints between the cill bricks?

I think I would choose a central brick and make some cuts on the render around that brick. Then use the hammer and bolster to chip the render off the brick so it is clear to work on, (if it comes off easily continue popping the render off the rest of the bricks). I would then use a masonry drill in a hammer drill to drill out as much mortar as I can reach in the joints around the central brick. This should drill out easily, unless some turkey has used a really big load of cement in the mortar mix. If you can't reach all the mortar in the joint with the drill, this is where you need to scrape at it with a hacksaw blade or heavy gauge wire or something. A plugging chisel can also help here, unless the bricks are too close together. At this point I would probably try hitting the cill brick from below with the block hammer, maybe use a bit of 70x35 timber to get a good angle to swing into the hit and save your knuckles from hitting the wall. After that it should be just a matter of locating the joints along the front of the cill, driving the bolster into the joint and a bit sideways should pop out the rest of the bricks fairly easily.

Remember that mortar is going nowhere under compression, you have to give the bricks space to release and move. Even if there is just a little be of mortar left in the first joint you clean out, it is going to want to wedge the brick in place.

Hope this helps.

Personally, I'd leave the bricks in place.
level the bar left to right and front to back with your timber wedges
and cover the bricks and wedges with a fascia board.

Ian, I have already started cutting the render and found it difficult with the wedges to line things up. Brackets, recessed into the wood and painted the same colour as the wall should look great and be easier?! And Franklin, i'll give that a go as no I haven't done all those things.....

Brick.jpgBrick1.jpgWell, it really feels like I have bitten off more than I can chew! It makes a mess and it is hard yakka getting the mortar out. I might buy a new drill bit. I "assume" there is little risk of disturbing any of the other render by using a hammer drill? Usually mortar is easy to drill....

Looks like you still have 2 choices before you go any further - Chew like crazy or revert to Ian's suggestion.

What would I do? Keep going, but it's your job and your call.

Renovating is a time of high anxiety when you're attempting something for the first time and without the tools a professional might have on hand. As long as you keep yourself safe, wear safety glass, gloves and a dust mask, and always keep in the forefront of your thoughts when you are using a tool the mantra 'Where will it go when it slips?'. Only you can tell how far you want to try and DIY.

So, my take on the latest pics is that the house was originally standard brick finish and somebody decided to 'update' it by rendering and paint it. Why do people do that? Anyway the render looks more like Rockcote than a mortar mix. It will be hard. The original brick joints were probably raked and the hard Rockcote is filling the top parts of the joints before you get to true mortar. Your might be able to bust it out using a plugging chisel or keep going with a masonry drill. An alternate at a cost is to buy something like an Ozito SDS rotary Hammer drill and use both the chisel and drill options to really get into demolition mode. IMHO if you are doing much renovating at all in a brick house an SDS drill is almost essential.

There are videos around showing various techniques to remove bricks. Have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez_qTOiREWM showing drilling and chiseling out mortar. It might give you a feeling for how the job might go.

One more thing you should take into account at this juncture. How confident are you going to be to fill in the new brick work once the cill is out? Perhaps watch a couple of youtube videos on that before you go any further, just to make sure you know what you're getting into there as well. You will need a few more tools for that to.

Personally. I'd be worried that "smashing" out the bricks will disturb the newly installed window.

It's hard to make out from the last couple of pics, but it looks to me like the cill bricks might not actually be set in below the window frame, they look like they may just be butted up to the wall framing below, not touching the window frame, with render covering the gap? Is it a Brick Veneer construction?

Hello, yes it brick veneer and you are 100% correct. The window is separate from these bricks. There is indeed a gap filled in with render and not much of that as I did it myself. I still assume removing these bricks is the go as I can then pack this up with wood or probably bricks, mortared in of course! Then viola, crack a tinny? I am not afraid of a bit of DIY but I guess when things are not known or "easy" I get a bit nervous! I think I've got this hopefully. I have trowels etc for using concrete, how hard can 10 ish bricks be to re-install! I will then use L brackets to hold it up from underneath with the rest sitting on the new bricks/wall.

I also bought today a diamond blade for my reciprocating saw and a new drill bit and a plugging chisel. I"ll try the saw first, then the drill/chisel! I think I'll get the suckers...!

,Well, finally got a single brick out but alas the mortar is so damn thick and hard to remove and there is still a slope towards to ground and this will take me ages to remedy. So, instead of pulling all the bricks out only to re-brick I thought, mortar the brick back in, use a piece of wood as an angle running the whole length of the ledge then cut-out 4 small chunks for L brackets so that the brackets sit on the FLAT wall and not a brick sticking out so it's all square....ish! This %$#&$ shelf is doing my head in!! Thoughts???