Temporary opening in a brick wall

[oldkettle]

I need to remove a part of the rear garage wall to create an opening wide enough for diggers / dumpers to pass. I had this nagging feeling while planning the whole thing that it wasn't as simple as "just do it". So now that I started I have realised it's unlikely I will be able to remove bricks forming zigzags on the two sides of the opening. I can try a disc cutter but then I have no idea whether it will be possible to close the opening once it is no longer needed. It is pretty old but feels solid. I am not even sure we will want the garage rebuilt once we are finished, but since it is attached I am worried about disturbing the wall of the house. 

Thanks in advance. 

 

[markc]

Use a disc cutters to remove most of the mortar, rest will scrape out with a thin chisel or bit of flat steel bar then giggle the bricks around and they will slide out.

 

[oldkettle]

1 hour ago, markc said:

Use a disc cutters to remove most of the mortar, rest will scrape out with a thin chisel or bit of flat steel bar then giggle the bricks around and they will slide out.

 

Thank you. I think I will need something bigger than 125mm Ferrex which I just tried 🙂 The disc won't reach into vertical joints but hopefully this won't be needed when horizontal are cleared.

[Brickie]

I’d just cut straight down make it a MJ if rebuilt. Handy if you could go down in line with one of the reveals but not sure that would leave you the clearance you’re after. 
BTW you’ll make that side elevation live when you do cut an opening out-

[oldkettle]

1 hour ago, Brickie said:

I’d just cut straight down make it a MJ if rebuilt. 

Had to Google it 🙂 movement joint? Frankly, I am thinking if we do cut straight and then need to rebuild may be easier to use blocks. 

 

1 hour ago, Brickie said:

Handy if you could go down in line with one of the reveals but not sure that would leave you the clearance you’re after. 

Yeah, I wish but no, too narrow. 

 

1 hour ago, Brickie said:

BTW you’ll make that side elevation live when you do cut an opening out-

Sorry, not sure what you mean? It will look better? 

[PeterW]

2 hours ago, oldkettle said:

Sorry, not sure what you mean? It will look better? 

Probably means that the right hand long wall will not be secured to anything front or back (or roof) so it may move if you catch it. May be worth taking down and rebuilding at a later point to be safe. 

[oldkettle]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

Probably means that the right hand long wall will not be secured to anything front or back (or roof) so it may move if you catch it. May be worth taking down and rebuilding at a later point to be safe. 

Got it, thank you. There are pillars but of course if a machine catches it they won't help.

Damn, that's a lot of extra work I haven't planned for. Need to see what's the worst that can happen, there are mature conifers separating us from the neighbours but if the whole wall falls something will almost certainly get through and make it to their side. Alternatively can install some support on the outside... yeah, need to think about it. 

[oldkettle]

Started - really slowly with a wrong tool, narrow chisel. Then while looking for the right one realised I have sds+ drill which I could have tried 😁

[TerryE]

Mortar has almost zero tensile strength. For more precise removal, use the SDS to drill a couple of holes side-by-side in the mortar course you want to yield, and bang a 25mm chisel in; a few sideways taps will loosen the brick.  For rough removal a sharp bang with 3 kg sledge hammer works wonders though you will lose some bricks, so if you want to reuse them just work steadily breaking the mortar courses. What size digger needs to go through; just once or daily?  I'd leave the brickwork to the RH side of the window alone if possible and remove the house side.  If you do go the right try to keep 2-3 bricks intact on the turn, otherwise you could loose the end wall.   

[dpmiller]

the critical Q. as @TerryE says is what size of digger and dumper are you wanting to drive through? Is the garage door and it's lintel being removed?

[oldkettle]

5 hours ago, TerryE said:

Mortar has almost zero tensile strength. For more precise removal, use the SDS to drill a couple of holes side-by-side in the mortar course you want to yield, and bang a 25mm chisel in; a few sideways taps will loosen the brick.  For rough removal a sharp bang with 3 kg sledge hammer works wonders though you will lose some bricks, so if you want to reuse them just work steadily breaking the mortar courses. 

Thank you Terry, will try it, just need a 25mm chisel (and I say some videos with an even wider one). 

 

5 hours ago, TerryE said:

What size digger needs to go through; just once or daily?  I'd leave the brickwork to the RH side of the window alone if possible and remove the house side.  If you do go the right try to keep 2-3 bricks intact on the turn, otherwise you could loose the end wall.   

Yes, this is the plan - keeping at least 2. The problem is there is a door on the right side and most of the wall isn't really linked to the corner! I had to remove the wall plate but it was completely detached from the mortar anyway. So only the doorframe keeps the two together - not much of a link. 

 

Was hoping to get a 5t through but there are a couple of trees that are in a way behind the garage as well so 2m clearance is not there. 3t - 1400 - should be OK and leaves plenty of space inside the garage. 

[oldkettle]

4 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

the critical Q. as @TerryE says is what size of digger and dumper are you wanting to drive through? Is the garage door and it's lintel being removed?

The door / lintel are still there. 2100mm door, I hope 3t digger should be sufficient - it's only a 70m dig into a slope with mostly sandy soil. 

Obviously, will have to remove the door once all is set for the machines to come on site. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by oldkettle

[dpmiller]

You'll need *at least* 1500 width for the machine. What size dumper?

[oldkettle]

1 hour ago, dpmiller said:

You'll need *at least* 1500 width for the machine. What size dumper?

Can't see why 3T won't be enough. It is a standard 150mm MOT3. OK, may need 20 or 30 runs up and down the garden, not a big deal I hope. 6T is too large anyway. 

[markc]

My 2t full cab machine says 980mm with tracks fully in but really needs 1100mm to realistically get through without scraping something

[oldkettle]

1 hour ago, markc said:

My 2t full cab machine says 980mm with tracks fully in but really needs 1100mm to realistically get through without scraping something

Yes, 1500 is the minimum, easy to provide. As I said, the garage door is 2100 so definitely plenty of space inside the garage, the question is can the wall fall from the wind rather than somebody pushing it. 

[oldkettle]

Well, sds drill really helps. Tried chisel bit but it's pretty useless. Ordered special brick removal one and in the meantime switched to the drill bit. Wow, so much easier. Why didn't I listen... 

 

1700mm between top bricks as is, removing one more on one side makes it 1800. Should be enough? 

 

Now, regarding safety. There are a couple of big conifers on the other side, any value in adding some kind of a support in between the trees and the wall? 

 

[Iceverge]

Why don't you just let the digger make its own hole? 

[oldkettle]

Getting there. 

 

The top courses on the right were completely loose, I just took them down, no tools needed. Now it seems I will have no choice but to take quite a bit of the wall down to be safe. My question is: how much can I leave? The reason is I want the right column next to the garage door to stay partially up so that we could attach some kind of a gate to it or at least lock a gate to the column once we remove the door. Will something like a stair step from say a 1.5m column height down to a meter or so for the rest of the wall be OK? Just to keep the column stable? Don't need the rear column.

[oldkettle]

Why can I just lift sections like this??? A bit scary. It wasn't exposed to sun much. 

 

Down to about 1600mm now. Feels a bit sturdier, before it was just scary that I could pretty much shake a brick wall! The pillar in the middle is weird, maybe was an afterthought, as there are no bricks linking it with the wall, only mortar. 

[oldkettle]

Right. The opening is completed. 1700mm, good for a 3t digger and a dumper and easy to widen if needed. The right wall is still there but not too tall now, feels safe unless of course someone hits it with a digger arm. 

 

 

A special thank you goes to @joe90 who suggested welding gauntlets for gardening. Turns out they are good for many more things including handling SDS drill and chisels.  

 

Now the last part

Before I take the door out I need to decide how to secure the entrance. Was thinking about a gate with a roller wheel attached to the pillar next to the house and secured against the right pillar, but there is not much available in 1900-2200mm range and it is not cheap. Then a friend suggested fence panels. Doable, but would look ugly and not easy to move when needed. And not cheap anymore. Looked at Heras, these are cheap (£40-50, well, excluding delivery) but 3450mm, too wide to be used between pillars or walls. Can set it in front of the garage I guess, secure to the tree on one side and to the pillar/house on the other? At 11kg (is it really so light?) shouldn't be hard to move twice a day. Any other options? 

[dpmiller]

are you reusing or selling the door? If neither, can you add hinges and a roller to *it*?

[oldkettle]

7 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

are you reusing or selling the door? If neither, can you add hinges and a roller to *it*?

Didn't consider this!

Hmm, not sure, these doors aren't very strong, will the hinges hold or just make holes in the door even with roller support? 

The top part of the door has a square profile which gives some rigidity, but the bottom is just a corner. I feel a strong wind would rip the hinges off... 

 

This is the top 

 

And the lower part - really weak 

 

[joe90]

14 minutes ago, oldkettle said:

these doors aren't very strong

Bolt some timber to it to hang the hinges on,  it’s only temporary! If you used “pin hinges” you could lift it off to give more room! 🤔

[oldkettle]

36 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Bolt some timber to it to hang the hinges on,  it’s only temporary! If you used “pin hinges” you could lift it off to give more room! 🤔

Nothing is temporary when I am involved. @Onoffhas finished his bathroom before I even started! 

 

Edited to add : not sure whether you saw that I mentioned welding gauntlets that you recommended. Thanks again. 

Edited May 3, 2022 by oldkettle