Using a jackhammer and elbow grease, removing old brick is tedious, but something you can definitely do yourself!
Things have been quiet around here this week. I apologize for my absence, not that I have hoards of friends reading my posts daily, but for those of you that do, I am sorry!
I spent the early part of last week in Sonoma, which is becoming a home away from home, at the Oh So Inspired conference. I was invited to handle their social media, it was a fabulous time spent with so many creative people.
The moment I got home from the conference, my dad and I began working on breaking down the fireplace, which featured an indoor BBQ that had 60’s written all over it. We initially asked our contractor to help us with this project, but for the completed project it would have cost nearly $15,000. To cut our budget down, we decided to do what we could ourselves – removal, new door install, painting, etc… The last step will be adding veneer to the existing fireplace, which we will hire someone to do.
We only had a few days to get the project done (started, really), so we had to work fast. We woke up early on Friday morning and began chiseling away at the brick and stone that made up the BBQ. As we broke into the actual BBQ we realized that the builders had used a more intense mortar and ‘fire brick’ on the interior of the structure. Even with our air chisel, and my strong muscles, we were unable to efficiently break apart the brick. It would have taken us until Christmas.
We decided to drive into town to the Ace store and rent an electric jackhammer. Once we got home, we started cooking away at the fire brick. It was so much easier with the jackhammer, I strongly recommend spending the $60 to rent it for the day, it’s an easy tool for anyone to use.
My dad used a saw with a special blade on it to score the hard stone where we wanted it to break since there were a few pieces of stone that we only needed to remove half of. After it was scored (which took a few times with the saw), we used the air chisel to break the stone pieces.
We are lucky to have a Ranger, which we filled up with the brick and stone. Every hour or so, I drove the Ranger to the dump area near our house and unloaded the rubble into a pile. On the first trip, I hand unloaded the entire thing, which burned approximately ten thousand calories.
On the second trip, I realized that the tailgate opened, so I had the brilliant idea to open it up, and drive away really fast, with the thought that all of the bricks would fall out the back. No such luck. So I found myself hand unloading it for the rest of the day.
Towards the evening, my neighborcousin Gabby arrived so that I could help her with making a birthday gift, and she came with me on one last dump run before we got into gift-making mode. As I began unloading the back of the Ranger by hand she asked me, “Do you just want to dump it?” I looked at her as if she was crazy. Then, she pulled a small lever on the back of the Ranger, and what do you know? The whole back end flipped up and dumped the rubble out in two seconds flat. I couldn’t believe that I had unloaded that thing by hand 5 times before Gabby showed me that it had a dump feature. I also couldn’t stop laughing.
We ended day 1 with a bit of work left, but we were able to complete most of the demo. On day two, we removed the remaining brick, and cleaned up all of the debris. I saved a lot of the brick for a garden path, and spent the rest of the day mopping up the red dust from the brick chiseling.
Later that afternoon, Greg cut a sheet of plywood to cover the exposed part of the roof, which is a temporary fix until we install the doors. I am currently making my final decisions on doors, but I have quite a bit to say about that, so I think I will save that for another post.
Thank you so much for following along this adventure we are on, I am so grateful you are here!
oh, so fun! snow rider 3d
yeah, we can make it prettier tag game
Wow, removing a brick fireplace with a jackhammer sounds intense! I can see why you’d need a break. After a hard day, I love popping into open sea for brainrots codes for a quick, browser‑based game session. It’s a fun reset!
Thank you for this detailed guide on removing a brick fireplace! Your tips about using the Level Devil for precise measurements are especially helpful. I appreciate your thoughtfulness in sharing the whole process—it inspires my own renovation journey! level devil
This is such a relatable DIY saga — the hand-unloading moment before discovering the dump feature had me laughing! Your step-by-step breakdown is super helpful for anyone tackling a similar demo. Since I’m in the middle of a renovation myself, I’ve been relying on tools like this free watermark remover to clean up AI-generated text artifacts from my project notes and blog drafts — it’s surprisingly handy for keeping content polished and original. Thanks for sharing the real effort behind the pretty results! If you’re curious about the tool, check it out here: https://claudewatermarks.com/
This DIY demolition post is so relatable—especially the part about hand-unloading the Ranger before discovering the dump lever! Your breakdown of the jackhammer rental vs. contractor cost is super helpful for anyone planning a similar project. If you’re looking to visualize the final fireplace design or test different veneer styles before committing, I’ve been using an AI video tool that turns text prompts into realistic previews. It’s been a game-changer for renovation planning. Check it out here: minimax3.com — might save you some guesswork on the next phase!
This DIY demo is seriously inspiring — the jackhammer rental tip is gold, and the Ranger dump moment gave me a good laugh. It’s amazing what you can tackle with some grit and a helpful dad. For anyone juggling a renovation playlist, I’ve been using a free AI rap generator to turn project updates into funny, upbeat tracks — it makes the grind feel way more epic. Check it out at airapgenerator.app — perfect for celebrating those small wins like finally figuring out the dump lever.
I appreciate your detailed guide on removing the brick fireplace! It’s inspiring to see such a hands-on approach to renovation. Have you considered sharing more about the tools that worked best for you during this process? I think others would find that information incredibly helpfuL speed stars
Tackling old brick demo by hand is brutal work—the mortar dust alone manages to drift into every corner of the house for weeks. Having your dad there definitely helps keep the momentum going, though, and opening up that room space always feels worth the soreness once the rubble is finally hauled away.
Before we took down our own dated surround last year, I tested out a few finish ideas using GPT Image 2.5. It’s the AI image editor I use for quick concept mockups, and it was handy being able to replace just the masonry with smooth drywall while leaving the adjacent flooring and ceiling trim completely untouched so we could see if the demo was actually worth the hassle.
The before and after on a brick surround is one of the few DIY jobs where the prep genuinely decides the result. The tip about testing the mortar in a hidden corner first saves a very long afternoon.
Tackling an old brick fireplace with a jackhammer is brutal on the forearms, but getting demo day done with your dad makes the mess almost worth it. That old mortar dust really finds its way into every single crevice no matter how much plastic sheeting you put up.
When I document DIY reno projects for my channel, planning out transition shots amidst all the chaos can be tricky. I’ve actually been dropping rough photos of stripped walls into 클링 4.0 with a prompt like “slow camera push-in through floating dust particles” just to preview lighting and camera angles before filming the actual B-roll. It usually takes a couple of generations to get the motion right, but it keeps my filming plan focused while working.
Thanks for writing this up – the practical detail is what makes it useful rather than another list of features. http://www.jeanphilai.pro
I recognised the problem you describe. Writing the steps down once helped me more than any tool choice. Bad Times AI
Good read. The part about keeping things simple is the one I keep relearning. http://www.ausarai.com
What a fun demolition day with your dad! It’s impressive that you tackled the removal yourselves to save on that contractor quote—the tip about renting a jackhammer from Ace for the firebrick and harder mortar is exactly the kind of practical detail DIYers need. The dump runs with the Ranger and that dump lever sound like they saved your backs too. After all that hands-on work, treating yourself to something pretty feels deserved—we design jewelry like our Ametrine Ring at LUMERUNE, a lovely reward for a job well done.
This DIY demolition diary is so relatable—especially that hilarious moment of hand-unloading the Ranger before discovering the dump lever! Doing it yourself definitely saves a fortune on contractor costs, but dealing with all that masonry dust is no joke. When it comes to putting together the final project video or timelapse, I’ve been using ExportAlpha for AI video background removal. It exports files with a real alpha channel—like transparent VP9 WebM for web playback or ProRes 4444 MOV for professional editors—which makes editing and layering tutorial clips super seamless. Great job tackling such a massive project with your dad!
The jackhammer rental for $60 sounds like the real hero of this demo day, especially after the air chisel barely scratched that fire brick. It’s impressive that you and your dad took on the removal yourselves instead of paying the contractor’s $15,000 quote. The 60s indoor BBQ must have been quite a surprise to break into!
This makes me wonder if the brick removal was more like converting mmol/l to mg/dl – tedious but doable with the right tools! I’ve been thinking about tackling my own fireplace, but the thought of all that dust scares me a bit. Your dad must have been proud to see you taking that on!