The exterior wall of my CA. home, facing the street is made up of rock.
The dimensions are about 13 x 8', and the rocks are set in mortar with
a flat side towards the house. I'm looking to remove this rock and
replace with either siding or stucco. I'd like to remove the rock
myself to save some money but my initial efforts leave me wondering if
I'm nuts. Is there some method to remove this rock short of a
mini-jackhammer? Sledge and chisel efforts after an hour resulted in
only two rocks removed from the wall face!

I'm trying my best to pry the rock off leaving some of the mortar or
old stucco behind it. My first rock removal left a hole all the way to
the chicken wire beneath. My subsequent attempt left the mortar/stucco
in place. Is there some wonder tool or should I hire out?

"clueless" wrote in message
oups.com...
The exterior wall of my CA. home, facing the street is made up of rock.
The dimensions are about 13 x 8', and the rocks are set in mortar with
a flat side towards the house. I'm looking to remove this rock and
replace with either siding or stucco. I'd like to remove the rock
myself to save some money but my initial efforts leave me wondering if
I'm nuts. Is there some method to remove this rock short of a
mini-jackhammer? Sledge and chisel efforts after an hour resulted in
only two rocks removed from the wall face!

I'm trying my best to pry the rock off leaving some of the mortar or
old stucco behind it. My first rock removal left a hole all the way to
the chicken wire beneath. My subsequent attempt left the mortar/stucco
in place. Is there some wonder tool or should I hire out?

Sounds normal to me. I spent a grand on a Hilti TE-52 ~20 years ago. I
just spent $120 for a spade bit for it to remove the vinyl tile in my home.
Hilti makes a quality tool and their bits last longer. I have bits that are
over 10 years old and work just fine. You can spend a lot less and work
harder. Depending on the rocks your removing Hilti or Milwaukee is where I
would look. I have never used a big Bosh so they might have something as
well.

Sounds like the contractor set them correctly. Hard removal is a good sign
except for the work it involves. You could always go to the rental yard and
get a 50- 70 pound jack hammer and air compressor. Sure hope your neighbors
are not light sleepers.

One thing I will credit Home Depot for: convenient rentals. They do
rent Hilti hammer drills and larger equipment if needed. I would call
around to compare prices, but the hours at HD are probably the one
saving grace they have.