seperating cemented cap from wall...

[MLI]

Is there a process in getting a cemented cap off a wall for repair?! Im trying to save the cap to put back on.

[D Felix]

Is it mortared or is it glued? What kind of wall- is it a segmented retaining wall (SRW) like a Keystone, or is it a block and mortar like house foundation blocks?

If it's an SRW, chances are that the cap is glued. The bond can usually be broken with a flat spade that is worked into small gaps between the cap and the block. Once it's worked into that gap, you can then pry it up. Removing the glue will be fun, that will probably involve a lot of scraping.

If it's mortared, there's a couple different options... The cheapest would be to use a chisel and hammer to tap out the mortar. The other would be to buy a small diamond blade for a 4" angle grinder and use that to cut the mortar out. Chances are you would only have to do one side completely, the other side and the ends you might be able to just weaken the mortar a little bit then pry the cap off.

What kind of repair are you doing? There's very few repairs that can be done without dismantling sections of the wall, or the entire wall..........

HTH. Let me know if you need more info.


Dan

[activelandscaping]

Are you, by chance, referring to a limestone cap on a brick/stone wall? These cap's usually weigh 100+ lbs.

Regards,
Active

[ZX12R]

Ihave used a chisel and a hammer to pry a cemented cap off.I would think a glued cap would be easier,

[activelandscaping]

I generaly use a Plugging Chisel (http://www.capcityequipment.com/mbchisels4118.html) ( if mortered ) to clear some space. I then use some yellow wedges on the edge's :p . Tap them in a little at a time untill the cap pop's up.

Regards,
Active

[rdw]

I just took apart a chimney for my neighbor and I was dreading being the nice neighbor until I remembered my hand held air hammer from my autobody days. If you already have a compressor they are cheap and the impact can be turned down as not to destroy the bricks or caps. Most of the bricks were in great shape. The only bricks broken were the ones I needed to break.

[YardPro]

last time i had to take caps off a srw i tried a wedge (chisel) straight in between the cap and the next row. EVERY block was ruined. the glue pulled the concrete out of the bottom of the cap. i had a 1/2" or so of concrete on top of the glue. we had to come back with a grinder to take it off. removint the top caps from a 35'' wall took 10 hours