concrete block window opening

I'm renovating my concrete block house. As we removed the drywall and plaster, the area around the inside of the window openings is proving to be very difficult to remove. The sills are tile on top of mortar (very difficult to remove)and it is very difficult to get the sides of the openings clean and smoothe for the new drywall.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Reply to
bmancanfly
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Invest in a hammer drill. Use it in hammer-only mode. You'll be done in no time.

Reply to
SteveBell

bmancanfly had written this in response to

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------------------------------------- SteveBell wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. That should make it easier to remove. Also, can drywall be attached directly to that cleaned up concrete block?

I was also thinking it might be easier to leave the inside of the windows alone and just drywall right over them and make them flush with the new interior drywall.

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Reply to
bmancanfly

I've not worked on concrete block walls, so I can just handwave.

I think I would put furring strips on the wall, then put the wallboard on that. You'd have some air circulation back there. Some kind of vapor barrier would probably be good, too. I'll wait for people with experience to chime in.

I've cross-posted this to alt.home.repair since that group is _much_ more active.

Reply to
SteveBell

  1. Possibly invest in an IR-125 air hammer (I think that number is right). You may be able to rent one, these things work wonders. There is a kit with a scaler, drills and chisels that is what I use.
  2. You need to use furring strips to mount your sheetrock. I'm surprised there are not some there already.
Reply to
PeterD

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