Removing Exterior Brick Pony Wall

Hi all,

I am looking for advice on how to best remove a couple of decorative brick pony walls that come off the front of my house. They are the kind of decorative features that people put potted plants on (see the attached image). It seems like I would come at it with a sledge but I am concerned about damaging the brick facade on the house where the pony wall connects or needing to do any masonry or repair work because I have never done masonry work before.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

A sledgehammer will work just fine, you will obviously be more careful the closer you get to the house. Demo the whole thing but stay a foot away from the house... finish the last little bit carefully, or use a rotary hammer and chipping chisel. Or a smaller masonry hammer.

You will have a hard time getting the mortar off the face of your brick once the planters are removed. That old mortar doesn't just magically wash off. You will likely need to hire a mason, so you may not want to just go crazy with a sledgehammer.... instead you may want to try to save as much of your old brick as you can... he may need it if he has to remove and repoint any of the bricks on the house. To do that you would grind down the middle of the mortar joints with a diamond blade and carefully chisel them off brick by brick.