Even as a kid, I knew to only use SOLID concrete blocks under a car. I preferred to use timbers, if I had them on hand. Even with a solid block, I'd use a piece of 2x above it to reduce the chance of a metal edge splitting the block. And I'd never crawl completely under a car held up like that, just use it to hold up a corner where I had a wheel off or something.
aem sends...
Wrong! Orange crates are expensive. :-))
-- Oren
"equal opportunity, not equal results"
Well, I have read the entire thread. Seems hardly anyone has actually removed a block wall. I have, several of them.
Unless the cores have been poured or there is reinforcing embedded in teh mortar joints, it is a simple job, not requireing power tools.
Your top course may give you problems that a few easy thumps with a sledge hammer will take care of. After that course the rest will probably just pick off or only require a mild tap. Mortar is not a 'glue'. Once the blocks are free, a chipping hammer will usually remove any remaining mortar with a few taps. Try the simple way first and you will be surprised at how minor a job it is.
Harry K
I wouldn't use anything but solid blocks either, all the cautions you all have said, no matter how many cars have sat on open ones.
I had a pair of steel jackstands, the kind about 15 inches high with three angle iron legs leading up to an adjustable pipe in the middle, rated by the manufacturer at far more than the load that was on the one I was using.
It only had the plymouth version of a Chrysler LeBaron, a K-car, and lt crumbled. Worse yet, it happened when I was in the house and I had left an 18 year-old boy with the car. Fortunately he wasn't under the car. And it didn't bend all the way down, and he was pretty thin, so he might have made it.
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The guys who buillt my house got mortar over a lot of the bricks, and extra mortar at the edges of where it was supposed to be also.
I got loads of it off with a box cutter with the blade in sideways** so it was a scraper. This worked better than a dedicated single-blade razor scraper, because the blades didn't break anywhere near as often.
You're right that the extra mortar barely stuck to the bricks and the hard part was where it was attached to more mortar, and even that part wasn't very strong.
**There are two designs for the simple two piece, very flat box cutter. Only one design can be used also as scrapers. You can tell by the inner piece. It holds the razor at one end as a box cutter, and at the other end, the two pieces of metal when viewed from the side form a sharply pointed triangle, like a thumb and forefinger holding something
Seems most folks think a sledge hammer will do.
It may. I tried a few whacks on the cinderblock walls I was tearing down. No fun. Hard to do, chunks of concrete flying in the face, hard to get at the stuff in the ground, created more rubble than easy-to-grab chunks, inaccurate...just a big pain in the rump.
I rented a demolition hammer for a couple days and tore the hell out of those walls. It's basically a small, handheld jackhammer. Plug it in, rest the tip against the cinderblock, and pull the trigger. Once you take out a couple blocks, you'll have the hang of it, knocking out good size chunks you can deal with. If you end up with too-big chunks, just bust them up with the demo hammer. You can easily get at the stuff under the ground after you brush some of the dirt out of the way. Dig a little hole next to the block where you want to start, so the chunk will have somewhere to go, then just knock out one block or so at a time.
Oh, and it's fun as hell, too.
Turned out some of the cinderblock wall was 'repaired' at one time with real concrete, high strength stuff. It was tough to take out even with the demo hammer. Forget using a sledge on that.
Some Home Depots rent them. Last one I rented came from United Rentals. I think it cost something like $45 a day. Sounds like a lot, that is, until you find that using a sledge sends one too many chunks of concrete smacking you in the forehead.
One of the contractors I had in for another job stole my sledge. I was grateful.
CS
Apparently you missed my post where I had removed 100' of six foot wall with rebar, footers, and poured cells. The top part is usually easy, with most of it falling over with a few slaps from a big hammer. It's just when you get down to the bottom course when you find out if it is truly an easy job. If you have a large footing, it gets complicated from there.
Removing a cinderblock wall of any size is no simple job. And the longer it has been in place, the more the indication is that it was put up strong with a lot of reinforcement.
I do hope the OP keeps us posted as to just how easy/hard it was.
Steve
Steve
Use a chisel on the mortar and pry them apart. Save them if you can, someone can always use them. Sure, a sledge hammer can do lots of demolition, and you can work your ass off and do the job a little faster at the expense of excessive sweating, but then you got to clean up all the busted blocks and find a place to dispose of the junk. I'd rather spend a little more time separating the blocks, and reusing them, or giving them to someone else to use. It's easier to move 60 whole blocks than pails and pails of busted up junk.
Oh ya, if you are a redneck hillbilly and get really drunk. Slamming a car into the wall is a great way to wreck the car and your marriage. :)
According to Edwin Pawlowski :
Depends on the circumstances.
Up here, a cinder block that hasn't been "filled" with concrete partially embedded in moist dirt won't last through more than one or two freeze-thaw cycles. Of the 9 cinderblocks under the
14'x14' shed we renovated (including raising the whole thing 8" to put another support beam under it), 4 of the 9 cinder blocks had disintegrated.Secondly, I watched an electrician "drill" a 2" conduit hole through a new cinder block wall with only a 2lb hand sledge ...
Surprisingly neat hole too.
Cinder blocks aren't very durable. They shatter easy. Not a good thing to stick under a car, unless you're not terribly concerned it might fall down.
You will only know AFTER you have taken it out. Please advise us as work progresses as to how easy/hard it was to take out.
Steve
Laura? A female with never having an manicure? I can never imagine this.
Send me a picture of your bass boat!!
-- Oren
"I don't have anything against work. I just figure, why deprive somebody who really loves it."
I was serious about the Mexicans. I saw 2 Mexicans take out a granite sistern from an old farmhouse basement (back from the day people would collect a supply of rainwater in a basement sistern). It was 6 foot high by 2 foot thick granite rubble with cement mortar about 10 foot by 8 foot wide. They had the whole thing down, up the stairs, and in the dumpster in 8 hours.
If that mortar or concrete is all the way thru the holes in the block, it will be much more difficult to separate the blocks. You might want to rent a small bulldozer or something like that. Otherwise, you just have to keep hammering. But, that mortar might just be in the top blocks, so try separating them first. Busted up concrete can be used as fill for roadways or ditches if you are in a rural area, or maybe the city or county road departments can use the stuff. On the other hand, if you are planning to make a concrete sidewalk or driveway, you can dump all this stuff in the bottom of the forms and save on concrete.
I was going to use a pair of jackstands, until I saw "Made in China" on them. Shoot, if their ethics allow lead paint, why would I trust their welders?
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