Thick as a Brick

Probably a daft question, but what's the best way to cut a brick in half ?

I've got a brick fireplace in the new pad that I want to trim down to a mor e normal size. I don't fancy using a angle grinder because of the dust.

Any ideas?

Seán

Reply to
DrLargePants
Loading thread data ...

you alreday have the best one.

water will keep the dust down.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

formatting link

Other examples in the thumbnail links on the rhs.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

OK, so to remove the mortar, SDS drill with chisel attachment ?

S
Reply to
DrLargePants

If you mean you want to cut back the surround or hearth in situ you need a 9 inch angle grinder to get the depth of cut. I would strongly recommend a diamond rather than an abrasive disk. Someone else holding a vacuum cleaner hose close to the cut will help to keep doen the dust, but THERE WILL BE DUST. You could "tent" the area with polythene or decorating sheets on a suitable frame. You may need to clean up untidy cuts with a grinding disk (the thick, dished disks) on a 115 mm grinder.

Reply to
newshound

Do you mean you are trying to remove individual bricks, then cut them down, then put them back?

Reply to
newshound

There is a section to the right of the fire place where I presume previous owner used to keep a TV. This needs to go, so basically I need to just rip it out. However there will be bricks left behind which will tie into the remaining section of the hearth. These will need to be cut down to form a straight vertical line of bricks.

Reply to
DrLargePants

On Friday 11 October 2013 09:45 DrLargePants wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Sharp bolster, place on each side in turn, following a line circumscribing the brick.

Sharp gentle tap each time so as to make a slight score line. On the final side (wide side opposite the frog), sharp heavy tap should cleave the brick neatly in half).

*Caveats*

It will probably go wrong at least once;

It may not be necessary to scribe around - I suspect someone will say they do it with one strike. Indeed "pros" can do it with a brickkies trowell. However, the above worked for me, several times!

Reply to
Tim Watts

On Friday 11 October 2013 10:32 DrLargePants wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Hang on - are these bricks in the wall?

OK - I took your question at face value on the first line and assumed you had a brick in your hand!

If in the wall, you could drill lots of 8mm holes in a line then use an SDS or hand chisel. Somewhat less messy than an angle grinder (drill dust and SDS chippings are heavy and fall out of the air quickly).

Reply to
Tim Watts

best bet is to remove those, abd if you dont like grinders, make up half bricks with a club hammer and bolster, and mortar them back in with the cut edge hidden.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Well its on a wall rather than in a wall, but I need to try and get it tidy so there isn't a row of bricks producing from the remaining fireplace.

Thanks for the help, I'll give it a (literal) bash tomorrow

Reply to
DrLargePants

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.