Any tips on removing Z-Brick & the morter/adhesive?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
The previous owner of the house we just bought thought Z-Brick was just the cat's meow & did part of the kitchen with it.
It's got to go. The stuff is nasty looking.

I'm probably going to have to take the walls all the way down to the studs unless someone knows of some miracle method to remove the brick and the black morter/adhesive.

As an FYI, the morter/adhesive is asbestos free. <--about the only good news.

The brick itself knocks off fairly easy with a cold chisel &/or a wonder bar.
I picked up a cheap HF pneumatic chisel which should also speed up that part. I'm planning on trying it out behind the fridge to see how it works.

Any other suggestions are more than welcome.

[David G Baker]

Looks like new wall board may be the fastest, maybe the cheapest and easiest way to accomplish your goal.
I have had to deal with silicone fastened tile and have found that there are not many ways around silicone other than removing the wall board. What I have done is remove the immediate area where the material is fastened and then marry new wall board with the old then tape and paint. You may be able to score the wall board around the Z-brick and remove the wall board and brick at the same time, this may save you a lot of time and labor.

[Rick Huelsbeck]

I have tried on a couple of occasions to get it off without taking the drywall and it aint happn'in. :(

[Dave Johnson29]

I'm probably going to have to take the walls all the way down to the studs unless someone knows of some miracle method to remove the brick and the black morter/adhesive.


What about 1/4" thick drywall over the top. My place was built in 1978 when dark wood paneling was the rage. I tried tearing it off but it was glued with something akin to liquid nails. I got a truckload of 1/4" drywall and now the rooms are 1/2" smaller but look brand new.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Well, HF came through for me!
Kinda.

The $4.99 HF special (on sale) lasted almost halfway through one wall.
But.
It did get the job well underway!

I went out and picked up a better pnematic hammer from HD, which has a lot more oompf.
Using the air hammer, the brick comes off easy.
Underneath, there's some kind of backer which was applied.
That's coming off ok - again using the HF multifunction tool.

HF is making it look too easy. ;)

[Michael Wetzel]

I ripped paneling down and it was nailed and glued with some kind of black liquid nail type of product. I ended up taking the glue off with a rigid putty knife and using joint compound to smooth everything back out. Then I ran a palm sander across the whole wall to get rid of high spots, primed it with gripper, fixed an high/low spots, touched them up with gripper and then painted 2 coats of paint on the wall. A typical 2 day paint job turned in a 7 day mess to do 2 walls.

[Dave Johnson29]

A typical 2 day paint job turned in a 7 day mess to do 2 walls.

Sounds like a job for that 1/4" drywall. Ahhh, hindsight. :D I did one room in under 3 hours and I am not an expert at drywall. It does take two people as the sheets are VERY flimsy to handle.