How to Break Up Old Concrete and Install a Brick Wall

Break Up Concrete

• 1

  Rent or obtain a jackhammer. Use a bullpoint bit to create a row of holes about 3 inches apart. Start 6 inches away from the edge of the concrete. Make other rows of holes, spacing them 6 inches apart.

• 2

  Switch to a chisel bit to break the concrete after you have made holes in an area of 3 square feet. Continue in this way until you have broken up all of the concrete.

• 3

  Collect the rubble with a shovel and place it into a wheelbarrow. Remove the rubble from the site. Smooth out the soil with a hoe.

Foundation

• 4

  Dig a trench at the selected location twice the width of your wall and 2 inches longer than the wall's length. Ensure that the wall extends down to the frost line.

• 5

  Obtain enough pre-mixed concrete to fill the trench. Add water to the mix and pour into the hole. Fill up the trench to just slightly below grade level.

• 6

  Wait for the foundation to cure before building the wall. Allow three to seven days for curing.

Brick Wall

• 7

  Unroll the string from a chalk line tool along the length of one side of the wall. Snap the string, which will leave a chalk mark to guide you as you work. Repeat the process for the other side of the wall. Keep in mind that the wall will consist of two wythes, or sections of vertical rows.

• 8

  Find the center between the chalk lines at one end of the footing and make a mark. Obtain a mortar mix and add water. Place the mortar in a wheelbarrow. Obtain a mortarboard to hold the mortar as you work.

• 9

  Scoop up a load of mortar with a trowel and put it on the footing to support the first brick. Shove the brick on top of the mortar. Ensure the brick is laid with holes pointing up and the long side parallel to the long side of the footing. Locate the brick so that it touches the center mark on its inside edge.

• 10

  Place another load of mortar into position next to the first brick. Put a scoop of mortar on the end of the second brick. Place the second brick next to the brick already in position on the row, with the "buttered" end abutting the first brick.

• 11

  Stop after laying four or five bricks and check for level with a carpenter's level. Continue to lay bricks until you reach the other end of the wall, checking for level after laying several bricks.

• 12

  Lay the first row of bricks for the second wythe the same way you did the first row of the first wythe.

• 13

  Start the second row of bricks for each wythe with a half brick to make sure the joints do not align.

• 14

  Install corrugated metal ties about every 12 inches in every third row to strengthen the connection between the wythes. Place one end of the tie in the hole of a brick in one wythe and the other end in the hole of an abutting brick in the other wythe. Ensure that mortar completely covers the ties.

• 15

  Build up the wall to the desired height. Lay a row of headers, bricks placed at 90 degrees to the wall's length, on the top row to further tighten the bond between the wythes.