If you have an old masonry brick wall that needs to be demolished there are certain steps that should be followed to insure a safe and clean demolition. In this post where I am going to give a general overview of how to demolish a brick wall, this isn’t exactly how it must be done but it does give you a pretty good idea of what needs to be done, just use a little common sense as you attempt to complete this project.

You first need to organize your demolition equipment. You are going to need a scaffolding, dumpster or dump truck, large tarps to cover the grounds work area, small hammer drill, partner saw, wheelbarrow, hammer, chisel, gloves, dust mask respirator and eye protection. It is also a good idea to wear long work jeans and a long sleeve work shirt to help protect yourself.

Try to position your dumpster or dump truck as close to the work area as possible, there is no sense in having to handle all the debris twice if you don’t have to. Spread your tarps out below the work area to help reduce the debris field when it comes time to clean up. Start by making a series long vertical cuts about 2 to 3 foot apart with your partner saw from the top of the wall to the bottom as close as you can get down to. If it is an old masonry wall you may be able to skip this step if the mortar joints are weak.

Next you will want to get out your hammer drill. Be sure it is set to vibrate only and use a small wedge tip on the end of it. In this case the small bits generally work better that large ones when taking apart masonry structures. Go to very to course of the wall to begin, never start at the bottom. With you bit attack the bottom of the brick rite where the bottom of the brick meets the mortar, pull the trigger and after a few seconds the brick should pop loose, grab the brick and throw it in the dumpster and continue along one course at a time.

You should avoid trying to take multiple courses at once unless you are skilled in demolition work. Improper demolition can result in a collapse of the entire masonry structure which would not be good especially if you are standing under it, odds are you will suffer serious injury or death. If you notice the wall starting to buckle while you are demolishing it you may need to stop and shore up the wall with bracing until that section of wall is down. As you tear down the wall you should come across wall ties every few feet that may require a claw hammer or a metal cutting blade to remove them.

Finally clean up your work area, there will be a lot of debris so hopefully you put your tarps down well so cleanup will be much easier. If you are planning to replace your brick wall with another masonry structure be sure that the footer is totally cleaned off and all mortar is chiseled off as well, it will make installing your new brick wall much simpler. If you don’t feel that you can tackle this project you should hire a qualified mason contractor or a demolition specialist.

Professional Mason Contractor
Matt Marksbury
Brick Wall Demolition
How to Demolish A Brick Wall

If you have an old masonry brick wall that needs to be demolished there are certain steps that should be followed to insure a safe and clean demolition. In this post where I am going to give a general overview of how to demolish a brick wall, this isn’t exactly how it must be done but it does give you a pretty good idea of what needs to be done, just use a little common sense as you attempt to complete this project.

You first need to organize your demolition equipment. You are going to need a scaffolding, dumpster or dump truck, large tarps to cover the grounds work area, small hammer drill, partner saw, wheelbarrow, hammer, chisel, gloves, dust mask respirator and eye protection. It is also a good idea to wear long work jeans and a long sleeve work shirt to help protect yourself.

Try to position your dumpster or dump truck as close to the work area as possible, there is no sense in having to handle all the debris twice if you don’t have to. Spread your tarps out below the work area to help reduce the debris field when it comes time to clean up. Start by making a series long vertical cuts about 2 to 3 foot apart with your partner saw from the top of the wall to the bottom as close as you can get down to. If it is an old masonry wall you may be able to skip this step if the mortar joints are weak.

Next you will want to get out your hammer drill. Be sure it is set to vibrate only and use a small wedge tip on the end of it. In this case the small bits generally work better that large ones when taking apart masonry structures. Go to very to course of the wall to begin, never start at the bottom. With you bit attack the bottom of the brick rite where the bottom of the brick meets the mortar, pull the trigger and after a few seconds the brick should pop loose, grab the brick and throw it in the dumpster and continue along one course at a time.

You should avoid trying to take multiple courses at once unless you are skilled in demolition work. Improper demolition can result in a collapse of the entire masonry structure which would not be good especially if you are standing under it, odds are you will suffer serious injury or death. If you notice the wall starting to buckle while you are demolishing it you may need to stop and shore up the wall with bracing until that section of wall is down. As you tear down the wall you should come across wall ties every few feet that may require a claw hammer or a metal cutting blade to remove them.

Finally clean up your work area, there will be a lot of debris so hopefully you put your tarps down well so cleanup will be much easier. If you are planning to replace your brick wall with another masonry structure be sure that the footer is totally cleaned off and all mortar is chiseled off as well, it will make installing your new brick wall much simpler. If you don’t feel that you can tackle this project you should hire a qualified mason contractor or a demolition specialist.

Professional Mason Contractor
Matt Marksbury
Brick Wall Demolition
How to Demolish A Brick Wall

Granite is a beautiful material to use for your kitchen and bathroom countertops. Many people, however, underestimate just how difficult granite is to install once it is purchased. Many homeowners believe that this is a project that they can take on themselves. If you have experience installing granite countertops, then perhaps you can take on this task. If, however, you are like most homeowners with no experience in this area, you should use a professional to ensure that it is installed properly.

One of the first reasons that you should hire a professional to install your granite counter tops is that everything has to be perfectly in place in order for the counter top to fit correctly. Unlike other types of countertops that can be placed on top of your space and glued into place, granite is very heavy and requires additional support. Professionals will install rebar and other supports to ensure that the granite doesn’t break because of the weight. These supports have to be completely level or else the granite will be unstable. The proper supports to be used are determined based on the weight and thickness of the granite slab. These are best chosen by a builder rather than a laymen.

Another reason you should use a professional to install your granite countertops is the expense involved. When you are talking about a piece of stone that costs around a thousand dollars, you don’t want to leave anything to chance. The slightest miscalculation can lead to costly mistakes. When you hire a professional for installation, they assume any costs that occur from a mistake. It is better to have that type of protection and pay a bit more for installation than it is to do it yourself and have to eat the entire cost of the granite should you make a mistake.

Granite is a stone that will last a lifetime once it is installed. It is beautiful and won’t ever go out of style. With the high price of granite, you should always use a professional to ensure that it is installed correctly and will last the way that it should.

For more than 15 years Onis Stone has combined knowledge, personal service, and creative design to professionally install granite, marble, travertine and limestone.

Natural stone has always been an integral part of building structures. It has a strong participation in the history of architecture. Ever since then it is ruling the tile market. Their natural charm and magnificence never failed to capture eye balls and still they are a brilliant way of decorating home. Their demand in market has never seen bad days. Demand of Natural tile has increased further more due to the introduction of several competent tile manufacturing companies. With the participation of so many companies in the competition has made it easier to find variety in tiles.

There are varieties of natural stone like, Granite, Limestone, Slate, Porcelain etc. Each of them takes millions of years to form. They are formed under extreme pressure and temperature. After remaining in such condition for years we get them as a very beautiful stone to decorate our house. Granite has a unique gorgeous look that suites any commercial areas, like offices, multiplexes, malls etc. These Natural stone tiles encompass a look that fits exactly in to any commercial area. However, they are also preferred for living rooms where lovely ambience is required.

Similarly, natural stone tile Limestone and Slate are favored for bathrooms and kitchen area. This is due to the fact that these tiles are non-slippery as well as water-proof, making them ideal for wet areas. Moreover, Slate is thermal resistant which means it can be ideally used on the walls near burner area. But, above all Porcelain is a very suitable tile for your home. Porcelain is a type of Ceramic tile but better than Ceramic. As compared to Ceramic these tiles are much stronger due to their hard surface and dense structure. Also, there are endless designs and color combination available.

Their creative designs can be used anywhere including bathroom walls, kitchen walls, kitchen backsplash etc. So choices are infinite, all you need is to select a tile design that can suite your taste and your home interior. Unlike Ceramic, Porcelain tiles can be also used on floors as they are strong floor material. Moreover, they last long with their original charm. Using your own creative mind by combining different tiles together to get fresh designs can bring you a satisfactory interior.

Often, border tiles are taken of different designs or install totally contrast designed tile in the middle of the plain tiled wall to bring out opulent style in your home. Natural stone tiles are costlier but posses elegance that any other tile material can ever posses.

About the Author:-

Jason Colling is a renowned writer who has written articles on various interior designing techniques related to floor decor. His articles focus on various uses of laura ashley erin tiles, laura ashley wiston tiles and natural stone.

Wars and broken romances have one thing in common – collateral damage! The love affair between saltwater pool owners and natural stone may suffer the same fate if a bit of common sense isn’t applied.

Salt can do nasty stuff to stone! The gnarled and heavily etched rock surfaces on the headlands of any Sydney surfing beach is testament to the power of salt, wind and wave action. Look very closely and you will discover an unassailable truth – some sandstone is amazingly resilient to nature’s wildest forces while other types succumb horribly.

Stone survival on any coastline is very Darwinian – the strong survive and the weak disappear. The performance of stone paving material varies in the same way. Poor quality material doesn’t last. This is especially so around saltwater pools. Traditionally chlorinated pools pose little risk to natural stone.

Salt can cause devastating damage to just about any building material whether it is metal, concrete or stone. Some stone is quite resistant to salt attack – a property that can be determined quite easily by laboratory testing. Some stone suppliers invest heavily in testing their stone to ensure that the product used is fit for the intended purpose. Businesses that provide this information deserve praise and are worthy of support, because too much poor quality stone is being sold by too many shoddy operators.

Salt water pools and sea spray in coastal areas can threaten some stone surfaces. Damage ranges from pitting and flaking through to delamination. Sealing will reduce the movement of salt laden moisture into the stone sub surface where most of the damage occurs. Regularly hosing down wet areas around a pool is the best prevention of all. Increasingly though, concerns about saving water or forgetfulness expose the stone to risk.

Sometimes salt damage occurs because of poor sub-surface drainage around the pool. Many soils are quite saline especially in the subsoil. After rain, soluble salts may rise to the surface permeating the stone from the under-surface. As the stone dries the salt forms crystals that expand in the tiny pores of the stone causing physical damage to the structure of the stone. In these cases salt damage to the stone is usually incorrectly attributed to the pool.

It is vital that stone is laid on properly drained surfaces (substrates) preferably with a waterproof membrane. This will eliminate the threat from below.

Sometimes damage to the stone has been caused by applying an inappropriate sealant. This comes as the biggest shock of all to homeowners because they think they have done the right thing by sealing. It is arguably better not to seal stone exposed to salt than to apply a surface sealer.

Surface sealers can trap soluble salts under the bonded surface layer. Once dry, the crystallised salt can exert such force to the upper layer of stone that it delaminates and flakes off.

If stone tiles are used around salt water pools, only penetrating sealers should be considered as they allow moisture if any exists, to escape from below the sealant film in the form of vapour. This doesn’t happen with surface sealants.

Stone that is laid around the edges of the pool and for two or three layers back from the pool edge should be sealed on all six sides to prevent salt penetration. Adhesives should be used uniformly with no air pockets and grout joints should achieve a 100% coverage so that moisture carrying soluble salt has no chance of penetrating the stone.

Bellstone is a specialist supplier of premium quality natural stone tiles, pavers & roofing slate to architects, landscape architects, builders, renovators and retailers. Our products are independently tested for quality & durability. For more information or to view our products, visit Outdoor Pavers

One of the great benefits of brick pavers is the relative ease in which you can replace cracked, chipped, or stained bricks. While concrete brick pavers are very strong and should last a lifetime if sealed correctly, accidents do happen. An unsightly oil stain on your new driveway or a chip caused by a dropped item can drive you crazy if not repaired.

When a paver does need to be replaced here is a step by step guide for replacing the damaged brick.

If you are replacing several bricks be sure to mark the bricks first to ensure that you are replacing the correct size brick in the correct spot. This is especially important if you used a complicated pattern in your paver layout. If you are replacing loose bricks it is good to get the correct bricks back into the original slot.

Once the pavers are removed be sure to clean any debris from the cavity. A thoroughly cleaned area will ensure that the bricks fit back properly while leaving the proper gap between the existing brick pavers.

Put a layer of sand down next. Use a wooden masonry wood float, taking the time to push sand into all the corners. Use the float or your foot to compact the sand down thoroughly. Check the level of the sand with a level.

It is now time to place the new brick paver into position. Use the marks you made to match up the correct position. Use a screwdriver to make sure the gap is even on all sides.

Finally, pour sand on top of the new bricks, filling all the gaps evenly. A mallet can be used to tap the new brick pavers into place.

If all is done well your new bricks should fit in seamlessly with your existing layout.

To learn more about brick pavers and see some samples of beautifully designed and installed systems check out http://www.outbackcontractors.com.