On 2014-10-08, Steve W. wrote:
Ignoramus10482 wrote:
As part of tomorrow's "removal" operation, I have to jackhammer a
brick wall.

This is done to facilitate removal of three machines (autoclaves),
each about 5 feet diameter and 30 foot long. They are mounted "through
the wall", so that 90% of them are outside, but the access door is on
the inside.

I told the company that I would bring my tow behind compressor and
jackhammer to hammer out about a foot of bricks around the autoclaves,
so that then I can pull them out without having the wall follow them.

OK, so far so good.

Now I want to make sure that as I am jackhammering the wall, it would
not suddenly crack, collapse, or otherwise give me trouble. This is a
regular overlaid construction brick wall, partly cinderblock and
partly brick.

Got a demo saw? I would cut through the blocks just to be sure you
remove the least amount of wall possible.


Any experiences, am I overthinking that? Can a wall suddenly crack
from local jackhammering?

Yep. All depends on the weight distribution through the wall.


Secondly, a jackhammer is very heavy, maybe 80 lbs. Obviously, no one
can hold it horizontally for a long time. How do people deal with
this? I wanted to have my partner support it with something suspended
from forklift forks. Makes sense?

Suspended works BUT you want to be sure that the suspension point helps
you by having it closer to the wall.


Note that I do have a jackhammer for a bobcat, but the access is no
good and it will not be able to work in that area.

i



OK, it worked out good. I used a smaller jackhammer. The bricks were
not adhered well to mortar, so everything came apart easily. I had to
shore the holes for safety, I had two shoring jacks or whatever they
are called.

i