Demolition of Solid or Facing Brickwork

Solid brickwork was used in older buildings for both partition walls and loadbearing walls. Partitions are usually around 100 to 150 mm thick. Loadbearing and external walls are commonly 300 to 450 mm or more. The bricks are normally bedded in lime or lime-cement mortar. Old lime mortar often crumbles easily. Cement mortar holds firmly and slows the work down.

Facing brickwork is masonry made from face bricks that was never plastered. You find it on façades, indoors as a design feature, and in historic buildings. Demolishing it often means two tasks at once: removing one section without damaging the part next to it that stays on show. If you want to reuse the bricks, the wall is taken apart by hand, one brick at a time, and the mortar is cleaned off.

The first question is not how to knock the wall down, but what it is holding up. Even a modest-looking partition in an old house can brace the walls around it, or the floor above may have settled onto it over the years. That is why it makes sense to bring in a structural engineer before removing solid brickwork. The engineer will assess whether the wall is loadbearing, whether the ceiling needs temporary propping during the work, and what lintel or beam should go over a new opening.

• Building authority: work on a loadbearing structure or a change of layout may need approval or a formal notification under local building regulations. Do not assume that a simple notice is enough. Check directly with your local building authority before you start.
• Flat in a block: tell the building management or owners' association about the work. Loadbearing walls are usually part of the common structure of the building, and you cannot alter them without the consent of the other owners.
• Listed or protected building: if the building is listed or stands in a conservation area, contact the heritage or conservation authority as well.

1. Assess the wall and have the structural engineer's report and any approvals in hand.
2. Find out what runs through the wall: electrics, water, waste pipes, ventilation ducts, gas. Isolation and disconnection must be done by professionals: electrics by a qualified electrician, gas by a qualified, registered gas engineer.
3. Clear the room, cover floors, windows and doors with sheeting and seal the work area off from the rest of the home.
4. For a loadbearing wall, install temporary ceiling props as instructed by the engineer.
5. For an opening in a loadbearing wall, cut a slot first and fit the new lintel, and only then remove the brickwork below it.
6. Work from the top down, course by course, and keep checking that the remaining masonry is stable.
7. Sort the rubble on site: bricks and mortar in one pile, metal, timber and plastics separately.
8. Make good the reveals and the junctions with the ceiling and floor, then remove the waste.

If you smell gas during the work, stop immediately. Do not switch any electrical equipment on or off and do not use naked flames. Open the windows, leave the area and call 112 or your local emergency number, or the gas emergency line in your area.

Hand demolition with a breaker, chisel and masonry saw is the usual approach in flats and houses. It is more precise, shakes the structure less and lets you keep part of the wall or save facing bricks. It is slower, though, and physically hard work.

Machine demolition with hydraulic breakers or small remote-controlled demolition robots suits thick external and loadbearing walls, larger areas, or places where hand work is not practical. It is faster, but louder, and it creates more vibration that can damage the surrounding structure. In practice the two are often combined: a machine removes the bulk, and the edges and junctions are finished by hand. For straight, clean edges to an opening, the brickwork is usually cut first with a diamond blade or wire saw.

Every method creates a lot of dust. Water spraying, dust extraction, a respirator, goggles and a hard hat are standard equipment, not extras.

• Wall thickness and function: a thin, non-loadbearing partition is straightforward. A thick loadbearing wall with props and a lintel is far more involved.
• Mortar strength: crumbly lime mortar comes away easily, hard cement mortar slows things down.
• Saving the bricks: careful dismantling of facing brickwork takes longer than ordinary demolition.
• Access: an upper floor without a lift, a narrow staircase or no space for a skip all make carrying out the rubble slower.
• Volume of rubble: one cubic metre of solid brickwork produces roughly 1.5 to almost 2 tonnes of waste, and once broken up it takes more space than it did in the wall.
• Hidden surprises: buried services, door frames set in concrete or steel beams inside the masonry all add work.
• Occupied building: in a lived-in block, quiet hours have to be respected and the surroundings need more protection.

• Demolishing without an engineer because the wall looks thin. The result can be cracks, a sagging ceiling or damage to neighbouring flats.
• No approval or consent from the building authority, owners' association or building management. Sorting this out afterwards is usually slow and unpleasant.
• A skip that is too small. Solid brick is heavy and fills a skip faster than people expect. Allow some margin.
• Rubble in household waste. Construction waste belongs at a recycling centre, a civic amenity site that accepts it, or in a skip from a licensed company that disposes of it properly.
• Choosing a contractor on price alone. Check their experience, references and public liability insurance.

At handover, it is worth going through these points:

• The brickwork has been removed to the agreed extent and the edges of the opening are straight and sound
• The surrounding walls, ceiling and floor show no new cracks or sagging
• The lintel has been fitted as the engineer specified and the temporary props were removed only at the agreed time
• Nearby services are made safe, capped off or reconnected by a professional
• The adjoining facing brickwork is undamaged
• The rubble has been taken away and you have a waste transfer note or receipt
• The area is clean and ready for the next trade