# Removing old mortar from brick faces



## 1victorianfarmhouse (Oct 9, 2016)

Decades ago someone installed a hose connection on the side of my house and did a sloppy job of patching around the hole leaving concrete all over the brick faces on the wall.

What would be the best way to grind off the old concrete?

Thanks!

Vince


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## slownsteady (Oct 10, 2016)

You may find the reason the cement is there is because there are broken / missing bricks behind it. I would be looking carefully and going slowly to find the edges of the bricks, maybe with a hammer and chisel working sideways to see what chips of. An angle grinder would work, but you would have to have _the touch_ not to damage the bricks.


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## 1victorianfarmhouse (Oct 10, 2016)

Thanks, S&S!  I was wondering if there might be some broken bricks or something behind there to warrant so much concrete spread around.  Tonight I will try a rotating wire wheel in a drill and see what effect that has.  

Vince


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## bud16415 (Oct 10, 2016)

You never know on deals like this. My guess is someone needed a 1 ¼ &#8220; hole and didn&#8217;t have a tool to make the hole so they busted their way thru the wall then patched it in. you can chip away at it and maybe pull a few bricks out and find replacement bricks that match and make it look like it all matches. 

Or it could have just been a messy job and it was done carefully. My clue is if someone was really careful making the hole would they then get sloppy patching it? 

I would wire wheel it first and maybe grind down the lumps and then snap some chalk lines where the grout should be and grind in a grout line where they go and stain the patch to look like a brick. I have never done this before but for some reason I can see myself trying that.


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## 1victorianfarmhouse (Oct 10, 2016)

Thanks Bud.  I ultimately need to replace the faucet as it was disconnected years ago, and wanted to also make the wall look as nice and neat as possible.  

Vince


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