My neighbor hired some contractors (using the term loosely) to build a
cinderblock wall along our shared property line. It actually turned out
better than I would have thought, but towards the end of the job the guys
must've gotten lazy because they stopped troweling off the concrete that
seeped out of the joints and just let it ooze out. The top half of the
wall is built in this fashion. The bottom is built cleanly. I didn't see
the work until a few days later. Is there any way to clean this up without
creating a bigger mess? Chisel? Sanding? I am annoyed they couldn't just run a
trowel over it when it was wet. It would've taken 10 minutes. They
obviously didn't give a rat's. What are the options to clean up the
unattractive concrete in the places they let it seep out?


Dimitri

D. Gerasimatos wrote:
My neighbor hired some contractors (using the term loosely) to build a
cinderblock wall along our shared property line. It actually turned
out better than I would have thought, but towards the end of the job
the guys must've gotten lazy because they stopped troweling off the
concrete that seeped out of the joints and just let it ooze out. The
top half of the
wall is built in this fashion. The bottom is built cleanly. I didn't
see
the work until a few days later. Is there any way to clean this up
without creating a bigger mess? Chisel? Sanding? I am annoyed they
couldn't just run a trowel over it when it was wet. It would've taken
10 minutes. They
obviously didn't give a rat's. What are the options to clean up the
unattractive concrete in the places they let it seep out?


Dimitri

Does your jurisdiction require permits for this kind of work? Has the
final inspection been done? Why not let your neighbor solve the problem
for you. After all, it is his fence and his responsibility.

In article ,
Travis Jordan wrote:

Does your jurisdiction require permits for this kind of work? Has the
final inspection been done?


No, no.


Why not let your neighbor solve the problem
for you. After all, it is his fence and his responsibility.


My neighbor is a very, very old man in ill health.


For sake of argument, let us assume he wants to "solve the problem". What
can be done short of tearing the whole thing down?! This is a technical
question, not a political one.


Dimitri

D. Gerasimatos wrote:
In article ,
Travis Jordan wrote:

Does your jurisdiction require permits for this kind of work? Has
the final inspection been done?


No, no.


Why not let your neighbor solve the problem
for you. After all, it is his fence and his responsibility.


My neighbor is a very, very old man in ill health.


For sake of argument, let us assume he wants to "solve the problem".
What can be done short of tearing the whole thing down?! This is a
technical question, not a political one.


Dimitri

Try striking the mortar off the joints with a hammer and cold chisel.

Travis Jordan wrote:
D. Gerasimatos wrote:
In article ,
Travis Jordan wrote:

Does your jurisdiction require permits for this kind of work? Has
the final inspection been done?


No, no.


Why not let your neighbor solve the problem
for you. After all, it is his fence and his responsibility.


My neighbor is a very, very old man in ill health.


For sake of argument, let us assume he wants to "solve the problem".
What can be done short of tearing the whole thing down?! This is a
technical question, not a political one.


Dimitri

Try striking the mortar off the joints with a hammer and cold chisel.

And don't forget your safety glasses.

D. Gerasimatos writes:

What are the options to clean up the
unattractive concrete in the places they let it seep out?

Diamond planer wheel in an big angle grinder. Very common operation these
days. With some effort you can get a smoother-than-troweled finish.

D. Gerasimatos wrote:
My neighbor hired some contractors (using the term loosely) to build a
cinderblock wall along our shared property line. It actually turned out
better than I would have thought, but towards the end of the job the guys
must've gotten lazy because they stopped troweling off the concrete that
seeped out of the joints and just let it ooze out. The top half of the
wall is built in this fashion. The bottom is built cleanly. I didn't see
the work until a few days later. Is there any way to clean this up without
creating a bigger mess? Chisel? Sanding? I am annoyed they couldn't just run a
trowel over it when it was wet. It would've taken 10 minutes. They
obviously didn't give a rat's. What are the options to clean up the
unattractive concrete in the places they let it seep out?


Dimitri



Where do you live? They must have used the same contractor as my
neighbor did this earlier year. G

I've always said that since personal taste varies greatly, your visual
property rights extend only as far as your property line. If you don't
like the "looks" of something that's "legal" on a neighboring lot,
that's your problem to solve.

Hence, I was hoist by my own petard and it would have been hypocritical
of me to grumble about the job the neighbor's contractors did, which
left us with a view of something that looked like the aftermath of a
building demolition.

I solved the problem by getting some good exercise last month digging
holes and planting 16 arborvitae trees to block the view. Maybe you
should do something like that, a cinderblock wall isn't the most
pastoral of sights, even on a "good day".

My "solution" is visible at:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/mmiv.html

While my neighbor is nice guy, he just can't see things from my side. G

When I got through with my plantings, he came over and insisted on
paying me for the cost of the trees I'd bought. I settled for his
writing a nice check to a charitable foundation dear to my heart, and we
all came out feeling good.

Just my .02,

Jeff



--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying."

Did they put in a footing? If not you can forget the wall lasting more than
a few years.


"D. Gerasimatos" wrote in message
...


My neighbor hired some contractors (using the term loosely) to build a
cinderblock wall along our shared property line. It actually turned out
better than I would have thought, but towards the end of the job the guys
must've gotten lazy because they stopped troweling off the concrete that
seeped out of the joints and just let it ooze out. The top half of the
wall is built in this fashion. The bottom is built cleanly. I didn't see
the work until a few days later. Is there any way to clean this up without
creating a bigger mess? Chisel? Sanding? I am annoyed they couldn't just
run a
trowel over it when it was wet. It would've taken 10 minutes. They
obviously didn't give a rat's. What are the options to clean up the
unattractive concrete in the places they let it seep out?


Dimitri

In article .net,
Art wrote:

Did they put in a footing?


Yes.


What this has to do with my question I do not know.



Dimitri

D. Gerasimatos wrote:

What can be done short of tearing the whole thing down?!
This is a technical question, not a political one.

It should knock off easily. Might have to use a chisel sometimes. Sooner
it is done the better, gets harder as time passes.

--
dadiOH
_____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.0...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
____________________________

I've seen guys throw up a wall without one. Seemed possible since they
didn't trowel the mortar. Usually anything that requires a footing requires
inspection. Did they put steel rods in to tie the wall to the footing? As
for your question, I've had a mason doing brick work on my house for over a
year off and on. Wear safety goggles and you will probably need a heavy
duty grinder and dust mask. But might as well try the chisel first.


"D. Gerasimatos" wrote in message
...
In article .net,
Art wrote:

Did they put in a footing?


Yes.


What this has to do with my question I do not know.



Dimitri

D. Gerasimatos wrote:
In article .net,
Art wrote:
Did they put in a footing?
Yes.
What this has to do with my question I do not know.

I think he was implying that it might not be worth worrying about.

In article . net,
Art wrote:

Did they put steel rods in to tie the wall to the footing?


No idea. I left as they were digging the footing.


Dimitri

In article ,
Dan Hartung wrote:

I think he was implying that it might not be worth worrying about.


Well, it will fall eventually. Here in CA an earthquake might even knock
it over. However, in the interim it's there. It's slim comfort if it
tumbles down in 3 years.


Dimitri

In alt.home.repair D. Gerasimatos wrote:
My neighbor hired some contractors (using the term loosely) to build a
cinderblock wall along our shared property line. It actually turned out
better than I would have thought, but towards the end of the job the guys
must've gotten lazy because they stopped troweling off the concrete that
seeped out of the joints and just let it ooze out. The top half of the
wall is built in this fashion. The bottom is built cleanly. I didn't see
the work until a few days later. Is there any way to clean this up without
creating a bigger mess? Chisel? Sanding? I am annoyed they couldn't just run a
trowel over it when it was wet. It would've taken 10 minutes. They
obviously didn't give a rat's. What are the options to clean up the
unattractive concrete in the places they let it seep out?

Some people actually like that look, but I agree with you: it's horrid.

In any case, go out ASAP and you can likely cut it off with a trowel now.
Mortar can take a while to come to full strength, and if it's still in the
first day or so, you can still pick it apart/alter it.



John
--
Remove the dead poet to e-mail, tho CC'd posts are unwelcome.
Ask me about joining the NRA.

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 00:21:03 +0000 (UTC), someone wrote:
Did they put in a footing?

Yes.
What this has to do with my question I do not know.

Maybe he was hoping that in a few years the entire thing would have
fallen down (thus creating perhaps an even worse mess). Dim, you've
been out here long enough to know that these threads often take on a
direction of their own.

The basic method is to strike off the excess with a hammer & chisel.
Don't grind any more than you have to, after you see what comes off
with the whammer.

How high is the wall, and did they work from your side of the line
also? One scenario is that, working from one side only, the mason can
reach over and strike the joints on the opposite side easily when the
wall is low. As it gets higher he cannot reach (without more
scaffolding). Don't have enough detail on your situation to know if
this might be the reason.

-v.

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:42:00 GMT, someone wrote:


Some people actually like that look...

Yes, I have seen entire custom homes, brick exterior, finished off in
this manner. But then its the whole wall, not half and half as Dim
has.

-v.

In article ,
v wrote:

How high is the wall, and did they work from your side of the line
also? One scenario is that, working from one side only, the mason can
reach over and strike the joints on the opposite side easily when the
wall is low. As it gets higher he cannot reach (without more
scaffolding). Don't have enough detail on your situation to know if
this might be the reason.


I think this is what happened and it is my theory also. I told him he
could come over to my side, but I think he was too lazy to bother going
around.


Dimitri

In article ,
v wrote:
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:42:00 GMT, someone wrote:


Some people actually like that look...

Yes, I have seen entire custom homes, brick exterior, finished off in
this manner. But then its the whole wall, not half and half as Dim
has.


It is stylistic when it is done with brick and it can look alright
depending on other variables. I've never seen it done with cinderblocks!
This was just laziness, as they started out doing it.


Dimitri