You need to determine if it is a masonry type cement based adhesive such as
thinset or a glue based adhesive such as mastic or others.

If it is thinset, you may be out of luck, no heat will release it. You will
have to carefully chip away at the brick and see if the tile glaze is glossy
enough or was dirty enough to prevent a good bond causing the brick to
release from the tile.

If it is a glue based adhesive, you may try a heat gun and a stiff trowel to
soften the glue and then gently pry the bricks off. You may need to use a
solvent to remove remainders of the glue. If it is black it may have
permanently stained the grout.

wrote in message
ups.com...

A friend in Altadena California has discovered that there is tile
underrneath
a crappy brick facade. It may be Bachelder tile, the house dates from
the
early 1920s, so if not Batchelder, it was probably made by one of
their
contemporaries.

Anyhow, the facade is brick or ceramic, but thin and held on with a
thinset
or mastic of some sort. I suggested using a heat gun or an iron on
a wet towel to heat the covering and then see if that will soften the
adhesive to allow the brick to pop off. Then the residue could be
removed with solvents.

Does that sound plausible? Any other suggestions?.

She's been trying to find a contractor who will do it, but so far the
only offer she has received was from guy who would charge $1000.
to demolish it with a sledgehammer. That is not what she wants.

--

FF