whats the best way of removing fabricated letters?

[Peter Normington]

Are you going to re-use, or just remove? if just removing and they are standing off, a chisel to cut the studs.
If you want to re-use, you should have use detachable stand-offs, as it will be difficult to pull the studs, without damage to the letters..

[Gary Birch]

Hi Peter
No the job is just to remove the letters. I hadn’t thought about chiselling them. The letters are stainless so I had thought about using a crowbar to try and break the letter off the stud and then just grinding the stud flush.

This is the first time I have done this kind of thing so am going in blind and welcome any input.

Cheers

Gary

[David Rogers]

Now, I’m just thinking out loud here…

…most stainless letters have the studs soldered to the back (not welded)…if you had a nice big gas torch (B&Q paint stripper) surely you could heat up the section at the stud & it’d practically fall off. Leaving you with fairly undamaged letters and a set of studs in the wall.

Dave

[Mike Grant]

Are the fixings not brass?
They are usually fixed with a spanner.

[David Rogers]

quote Mike Grant:

Are the fixings not brass?
They are usually fixed with a spanner.

Nah, these are stud & resin ones.

Brass ones: longer to fit…easier to remove!

[Peter Normington]

usually braised not soldered I think,

so would need quite A high temp to melt the join and each one would need to be done separately, just use a sharp chisel, no rocket science needed, and studs are cut back flush with wall at the same time.

If you try to pull them out you will most likely pull big lumps of brick at the same time, leaving unsightly holes

Peter

[Gary Birch]

Thanks for your replies guys. Have just been to look at the job and letters are very close to the wall leaving very little room for a chisel. Can see badly grazed knuckles coming. I think the best thing to do is go with all removal options open and see how it goes.

I hate this kind of job where you don`t have a plan. Hopefully these will be the cheapest stainless steel letters which will fall apart as soon as I go near them but knowing my luck I doubt it.

Thanks for your help anyway.

Cheers

Gary

[Fred McLean]

Have a look at the new Bosch hand held saw tool it has a very thin vibrating blade which i think is exactly the thing your after.It’s been mentioned on here before but cant remember the model number 😀

[Gary Birch]

Cheers Fred I will have a look but I don`t think I can justify buying a power tool for this job. I had also wondered about bolt cutters on the studs but the problem is getting access to the stud.

I think the best thing is to suck it and see.

Cheers

Gary

[Fred McLean]

You will never go wrong buying decent tools and once you have it i bet you’ll use it for a lot more things 😀
I think the cost of it is about £60(It might save you that in time on the one job) 😕

[Gary Birch]

Hmmm maybe. Trouble is I am doing the job on Wednesday so will have to act quick. Will go look at the screwfix site now.

Cheers

Gary

[Russell Spencer]

quote Peter Normington:

usually braised not soldered I think,

Peter

You have to solder them on, anything hotter and it tarnishes the face. We do our own.

To remove them I would use a long piece of steel angle bar (about 1000mm) put one edge under the letter and lever it off the wall gently, depending on the type of resin used they may come out easily or not. You will have to watch for them pulling a brick out, if the mortar is not up to much though.

[Gary Birch]

I think that for the money I will get a blow torch and give it a whirl.

Thanks again for all your help guys

Gary

[Peter Dee]

Gary, you might find that these are held in with silicone rather than resin bonding, in which case they might come away easier than you think.

[Gary Birch]

Hopefully mate. I will make a killing if I do… will have to have a nap on the scaffolding though to justify the cost lol.

Cheers

Gary

[Gary Birch]

Just got back in from this job … ended up using the trusty crowbar and 4 and a half inch angle grinder. Worked a treat!!!

Need to replace my steel scaffolding though as its a ball ache to erect.

Thanks for all you help on this one.

Much appreciated.

Gary