Air vent above door

Discussion in 'Builders' Talk' started by alexjb1989, Aug 8, 2018.

  1. alexjb1989

    alexjb1989 Member

    Hi all,

    Apologies as this is my second post today about air vents. This time it is a different vent, so I thought I should start a different thread as it is a different problem. Apologies if I should have just continued in first.

    So, above the kitchen door was a old air vent. I've just smashed it off as wanting to plaster over it flat. But there is some concrete that protrudes from the wall surface (was from the other side of door I assume when that vent was removed and someone piled concrete in to fill). See pics.

    Now, obviously I have to take off the protruding bit so its flush ready to plaster. The only way I can think of doing this was to use a angle grinder to create hatches and then chisel it out.

    Has anyone got any better ideas? As this will make an absolute utter mess when angle grinding it, clouds of dust everywhere!

    Thought I would ask if anyone had any bright ideas how to get it flush?

    Cheers again, again.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Could try a scutch chisel, more effort but less mess.
     
    alexjb1989 likes this.
  3. alexjb1989

    alexjb1989 Member

    Cheers for the suggestion. Would a scutch go through concrete? I know it would plaster or breeze block
     
  4. Good point, a scutch might struggle, depends how solid the concrete is. It should be able to take chips form the concrete and with enough bashing, hopefully you get to remove enough material. A hand held scutch is cheap enough so might be worth a try, avoids lots of dust.
     
  5. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select


    Do you have flooring or carpet underneath the door in either room you wish to keep?
     
  6. DIYDave.

    DIYDave. Screwfix Select

    You may find that the concrete isn’t particularly well bonded to the wall surface and will come off in chunks

    Ok, may take off a little bit off wall here and there but not too much to worry about

    Either scutch or wide cold chisel/bolster and start at side where concrete bulges out and give chisel a good whack

    Think will be easier to remove all concrete that was added rather than trying to shave some off

    When removed (along with some additional wall :eek:), brush down loose material and dust, PVA with 1-5 water mix then fill with bonding plaster, prior to skim
     
  7. stevie22

    stevie22 Screwfix Select

    Use a narrow cold chisel: less welly required!!
     
  8. alexjb1989

    alexjb1989 Member

    Thanks for the advice! I will give that ago!
     
  9. DaveF

    DaveF Active Member

    I think you are in danger of cracking the surrounding material, which could end in a nightmare. You have a very difficult decision here. You can try a chisel but the impacts may crack the surrounding brickwork. Your suggestion of an angle grinder is a good one, and in fact if you use a diamond blade you can effectively sand it down with no chiselling required, but oh my what a lot of dust. You could minimise the dust by covering the doorway in plastic sheet and working under the sheet. I would be extremely reluctant to take a hammer and chisel to it. But you could try with a very small chisel just giving it a few taps to see how hard it is. It actually looks pretty soft, but a good idea to find out. Just be gentle.
     
  10. DIYDave.

    DIYDave. Screwfix Select

    What’s under the plaster .... cement render ?

    I recon that lump of cement will come off fairly easily with a chisel and a few whacks - attack it from the side, way less messy than grinding

    If it takes off some plaster, render, block, no biggie

    25kg sack bonding plaster is under £7, PVA 1-5 (or PVA type wood glue will do), easy to use, goes on nice and thick, doesn’t need to be perfect, just keep few mm below finished surface ready for skim coat

    There’s an old fashioned hardware shop near me that sells plaster by the kg (possibly unusual I recon in this day and age)

    It’s actually even better for small repairs as once sack opened and getting close to or past use by date, plaster goes off even quicker which is great for small patch repairs (possibly something like ten mins working time)

    Few dust sheets down and go for it ...... well at least give the chisel method a try :)
     
  11. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select


    That was the reason I asked about floorcoverings, I would use a disc cutter and trickle water over the blade to keep dust down, taking into account the resulting mess to clear up. But I seemed to be ignored.......
     
  12. Pollowick

    Pollowick Screwfix Select

    Are you able to comment on designs that utilise SPAM as the primary construction material?
     

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