How to Remove Formstone Fronts

Formstone, a brand of imitation rock surfacing, was considered a stylish façade over brick and wood walls in the 1950s in Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia. It was popular on row houses, particularly in Baltimore, where Formstone became a generic term for all faux stone facades. Most people who now buy and modernize these old, inner city houses do not like Formstone. Baltimore born film director John Waters contemptuously called it "the polyester of brick." It is a very easy facade to remove; renovators pry it off with a crowbar.

Scaffolding
Plywood
Circular saw
Nails
Claw hammer
Yellow caution tape
Hard hat
Leather gloves
Chisel
Crowbar
Rope
Wire cutters

Instructions

- 1
  Erect scaffolding along the front of your building. You can use a ladder but since thick layers of Formstone are heavy, scaffolding is safer.
- 2
  Cut plywood with a circular saw. Cover all windows with the plywood pieces. Nail the plywood to the window frames using nails and a claw hammer.
- 3
  Tape off the area below the scaffolding with yellow caution tape.
- 4
  Put on a hard hat and leather gloves. Start at the top of the façade and work down.
- 5
  Chisel away, using a chisel and a claw hammer, a 3-inch square section of Formstone adjoining a window edge.
- 6
  Hammer a crowbar into the opening you have made behind the Formstone and the lathe, usually chicken wire, that supports it.
- 7
  Slip a scrap piece of plywood between the fulcrum of the crowbar and the wall to protect the original brick or wood wall behind the façade.
- 8
  Place the pieces of Formstone you pry off on the scaffolding floor and lower them to the ground with a rope.
- 9
  Cut sections of lathe that do not break away with the Formstone using wire cutters. Remove nails from mortar joints and wood with the claw end of the claw hammer or the claw end of the crowbar.

How to Darken Brick

How to Rid a Home of Wood-Boring Insects

Exterior Home Repair