# Forum Home Renovation Demolition  Brick MonstRosity

## terryquin@live.

Hi Guys and Gals.
I hope the attached picture is clear and I wonder if anyone else has one of these - like a monument in their house? Our house was build 1981 Perth Western Australia by Bourke and Gaynor, a popular builder back then. What this brick edifice is for I really don't know and we have been here since 2004 and so it has to go as we are sheeting over the racked ceilings to modernise. The pantry is in the bottom section and square so from inside the pantry you wouldn't know what was going on. It serves no purpose and is not load bearing as the rafters carry on through it. Clinker brick for God's sake.
Various ideas have been mooted, removal, framing and sheeting etc. The last option would make a pretty big squared off, equally horrendous structure.
Has anyone done a demolition of this thing? I assume I am not the only person to have one of these. Wonder if it would be a huge job if tackled carefully and delicately. Any thoughts and ideas much appreciated except the one about a bomb! Terry

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## joynz

Might be for thermal mass - used for temperature regulation with bricks are on the inside of a house.

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## Moondog55

I actually like the look. But really a plan and more pictures before I could offer an opinion.
Base for the observation tower? Solar thermal chimney? Priests bolt-hole?

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## Marc

Interesting and not too bad. Gives an idea of might ... roman empire style 
Interesting that the photo is on it's side yet if you click on it and make it bigger it turns upright ... (?) May be due to the mass of bricks ?  :Smilie:

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## toooldforthis

> Might be for thermal mass - used for temperature regulation with bricks are on the inside of a house.

  
could be if it got winter sun and not summer. 
one person's monster is another's love child.

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## Uncle Bob

> Interesting that the photo is on it's side yet if you click on it and make it bigger it turns upright ... (?) May be due to the mass of bricks ?

  haha, but it's still on a lean here, but I think you're on a Mac right? They handle images better that Windows, but unfortunately, also break them for every other non Apple device.

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## phild01

> Interesting that the photo is on it's side yet *if you click on it and make it bigger* it turns upright

  Same here.

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## Uncle Bob

> Same here.

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## Whitey66

> 

   Click it again  :Wink:  
Maybe the house was built around an old smoke stack that was heritage listed and couldn't be removed  :Sneaktongue:

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## terryquin@live.

It's me again. Enough of the wise-crack replies. has anyone got any real suggestions or experience about removing this monster? Surely someone else has had one and removed it? Or done a job of removing one?

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## Marc

Canvassing your neighbourhood and local builders/brickies would be more productive. 
If it is just brick, there is such thing as a chisel and a mallet, or a jackhammer or a bit of dynamite. 
Providing the builder did not store the demolition of the previous house in there, asbestos, body of his partner, illegal worker or road kill, you should be suit just taking it brick by brick. 
We want to know what's inside!

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## phild01

Would removing the pantry offer inside access to ensure there is no cabling, plumbing or anything else that may be a problem.

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## joynz

> It's me again. Enough of the wise-crack replies. has anyone got any real suggestions or experience about removing this monster? Surely someone else has had one and removed it? Or done a job of removing one?

  Use an arbortech mortar saw.  Dusty but fast (and not as dusty as a grinder).  Or just use a hammer and bolster (masonry chisel) and start by removing a few bricks from the top. 
Go slowly.  Try to determine if there are pipes or wires. 
Or get a brickie to do it.

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## Moondog55

Well Terry some of us don't see it as a monster, it's all in the eye of the beholder but without plans and drawings we can't offer real advice. A gimpie and bolster and one brick at a time is however excellent but slow, start at the top and work down.
You will need to put down a lot of brown paper and masonite around the structure as well as lots of dust sheets and probably a big ShopVac to help with the clean up. House plans might be on file with the local council tho, if there even a remote possibility of wires etc go very slowly as advised above. I've removed external chimneys, one brick at a time to be safe

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## r3nov8or

Interesting, that different mortar line about 2/3s up

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## terryquin@live.

Hi r3, actually funny you picked up on that! Its actually a black extension cord that I ran across the room and slotted it into the mortar groove.

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## terryquin@live.

Thanks Moondog. as I am the beholder Ill go with either covering it up or demolishing. Ill keep in mind your advice to start at the top.  

> Well Terry some of us don't see it as a monster, it's all in the eye of the beholder but without plans and drawings we can't offer real advice. A gimpie and bolster and one brick at a time is however excellent but slow, start at the top and work down.
> You will need to put down a lot of brown paper and masonite around the structure as well as lots of dust sheets and probably a big ShopVac to help with the clean up. House plans might be on file with the local council tho, if there even a remote possibility of wires etc go very slowly as advised above. I've removed external chimneys, one brick at a time to be safe

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## r3nov8or

> Hi r3, actually funny you picked up on that! Its actually a black extension cord that I ran across the room and slotted it into the mortar groove.

  Haha. I thought it was some sort of... Well not sure what I thought really  :Smilie:

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## r3nov8or

You should leave it in place, and cut one of those small windows in it that they do at construction sites, then have a laugh when every new visitor has a look inside

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## terryquin@live.

Hmm, don't have any visitors actually. Any better ideas? I'm a bit scared about what the gap will look like when its gone but I guess I should get in the ceiling again and look down the inside. Careful I don't fall in of course and never seen or heard of again. Cause I don't have any visitors.   

> You should leave it in place, and cut one of those small windows in it that they do at construction sites, then have a laugh when every new visitor has a look inside

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## r3nov8or

> Hmm, don't have any visitors actually. Any better ideas? I'm a bit scared about what the gap will look like when its gone but I guess I should get in the ceiling again and look down the inside. Careful I don't fall in of course and never seen or heard of again. Cause I don't have any visitors.

   No visitors? Put a sign out the front...

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## toooldforthis

do you think the pantry was added after? 
as in, the original pantry area was a curved cubicle?
so it was a _feature_ from the kitchen side as well? 
a lot of interesting _architecture_ in Booragoon  :Wink:

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## terryquin@live.

Thanks for the sensible question toooldforthis (me as well!) - no, it seems like it was all original build but a strange plan indeed. The inside of the curve is unfinished, as in unsightly mortar oozing everywhere etc. Had a ceiling guy in yesterday and he sort of liked the clinker monument and thought a big curved fish tank could be built into it! and other equally wild thoughts. He reckons that clinker is coming back in.  As if! Ill get a quote on removing it but suspect it would be thousands and then I would have to do a lot of work in covering up the ghastly mess left in a 4.5m high wall. It is leaning a lot towards boxing it in so it doesn't stand out.     

> do you think the pantry was added after? 
> as in, the original pantry area was a curved cubicle?
> so it was a _feature_ from the kitchen side as well? 
> a lot of interesting _architecture_ in Booragoon

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## doovalacky

Interior "feature" brick walls like that were pretty popular for a while and every now and again make a resurgence with the builders in WA.
Could just plaster over it and turn it into a curved wall. That way at least don't lose the pantry space while not having the odd box sticking out of wall. 
Is it a kitchen the other side or living space? Could it have been a recess for a enclosed fire that was removed or never added.

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## Marc

You could call the police and say you believe there is a dead person inside and so they will remove it for you  :2thumbsup:

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## r3nov8or

If you box it out 'square', it'll be even more intrusive, cutting out sight lines and walking 'paths'

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## toooldforthis

why not just cut oy down to size?
say 1.8m high, or the pantry height.
that will make it look less instrusive.
if you cut it down to floor level you will have to deal with _making the floor good_ as well   

> He reckons that clinker is coming back in.  As if!

  no, he's right.
I like architecture from lots of different eras, inc retro, but sometimes people confuse nostalgia for bygone eras w good design.
you never know, one day everyone might be painting everything w mission brown. 
oh, btw,   

> we are sheeting over the racked ceilings to modernise.

  is a definite no-no w the retro police,

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## Marc

I think you should demolish the top down to one meter high and build a spa inside it  :Smilie:

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## Moondog55

> You could call the police and say you believe there is a dead person inside and so they will remove it for you

  Make a suspicious pile in the garden too and get the vegie garden dug at the same time?

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## Uncle Bob

Chip it down to say 10 courses and build a bar into it   :Cheers2:

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## Moondog55

:2thumbsup:

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## commodorenut

Bar & spa are the 2 best suggestions in the entire thread!

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## toooldforthis

> Bar & spa are the 2 best suggestions in the entire thread!

  if you want a spa or bar in the kitchen.  

> The pantry is in the bottom section

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## Marc

Well ... I cook naked so what's the diff ?  :Rofl5:

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## commodorenut

Just watch the snags on the barbie Marc.....

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## autogenous

Batten it. Clad it with the same cladding int he room.

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## Moondog55

Wondering how this went??

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