I was on a crew last week in Queens and this guy with 40 years in said that while we were checking a wall that was off by a quarter inch over 12 feet. Made me realize I was too rigid about following the bubble on older houses where nothing is perfect. Anybody else loosen up their standards when you know the structure won't ever be true?
I was dead set against using a hawk for like 10 years. Always thought it was extra weight to carry around. But last week I borrowed one from a guy on a commercial job in Cleveland and man... the way it evens out your mud before you even touch the wall. I didn't expect to miss less spots on the first pass. Anyone else have a tool they hated that turned out to be a game changer?
Last month I was down in Charleston for a job and walked past St. Michael's Church. The old brickwork really caught my eye. Some of those bricks were laid in a Flemish bond pattern that you just don't see on modern jobs anymore. I spent a good 20 minutes just looking at how tight the joints were and how straight the courses stayed after almost 300 years. Has anyone else studied old brickwork on historic buildings and picked up a technique you actually use today?
I've been laying brick for about 6 years now and always just used a string line and my eye. Last week I had a 400 square foot patio job in Phoenix and decided to try those plastic leveling clips and wedges. Honestly I thought they were kind of a gimmick but I was getting tired of checking every row. The first few rows were a pain to get the hang of the clips but by row 10 it was clicking. The final slab came out dead flat, way better than my usual work. Has anyone else switched to these and found they actually speed things up or slow you down?
Last June I was working a restoration job on an old church in Detroit, and the mortar they spec'd was way too soft for the weather. On Tuesday, a whole section of the south wall I laid on Monday just crumbled after a rainstorm hit overnight. I had to tear out 30 feet of my own work and start over, cost me two full days and a chunk of my paycheck. Has anyone else dealt with a supplier giving you the wrong mix for an historic build?
I was laying block on a retaining wall and had to switch from Type S to Type N halfway because the supplier messed up my order. The Type N was WAY easier to work with for the cap course. Held up just as good after a week of curing and the color blended better with the stone. Anyone else notice a big difference between mortar types on smaller jobs?
Been laying brick for 12 years in Cleveland and I still use a classic jointing tool by hand. All the young guys on the crew tell me I'm wasting time. Last month I watched one of them blow through a whole wall with a power jointer and the joints looked like garbage. Had to touch up half of them with a hand tool anyway. Am I the only one who thinks the finish is never as clean with the power rigs?
I was checking out that old warehouse being renovated on Oak Street and noticed the brick archway over the back door was bowing out at the top - they used a soldier course but no metal lintel. Some guys say a true arch holds itself, others swear by a hidden steel bar to stop it from sagging. What do you all do when you're doing a decorative arch?
I was a green helper on a job site in Cleveland. Frank was like 70, been laying brick since the 50s. He saw me slapping mud on and said "son, you gotta butter the head joint too, every single one." I thought he was being picky. Then he made me redo a whole corner because I skipped three. Took me an extra hour but that wall never had a crack. Does anyone still do that or is it just a lost art now?
Thought it would look sharp, but she said the diagonal cuts made the mortar lines look like a mess from 3 feet away. Learned that some patterns just don't pop unless the lighting hits them right - any of you had a design idea backfire on site?
I spent $180 on that little electric mixer last month. It burned out mixing just three bags of type S mortar for a small retaining wall. Has anyone else had bad luck with the budget mixers or should I just save up for a proper one?
I've been laying brick for about 8 years now and always just eyeballed my cement to sand ratio. A older mason named Jerry watched me mix a batch last month and told me I was using way too much sand, like a 4:1 instead of 3:1. He said my joints would start crumbling in 5 years if I didn't tighten it up. So I started weighing it out exactly 3 parts sand to 1 part cement and the difference in strength is huge. My mortar sets faster and doesn't crumble when I tool it. Has anyone else had to adjust their mix after someone called them out?
I was grabbing coffee at the 7-Eleven on 3rd Street last Tuesday and heard this old foreman telling his apprentice that he mixes all his mud by hand on a board, even for big jobs. He said the machine adds too much air and weakens the bond. I have used a mixer for years on jobs over 500 bricks and never had issues, but now I am wondering if I should switch it up. Has anyone else run into problems with machine-mixed mortar?
I was working a commercial wall out in Akron last month and kept a rough count in my head. After about 5 weeks I hit 10,000 bricks on the nose for that one project. I told my foreman and he just shrugged and asked if I took a lunch break yet. Guess it only matters to the guy stacking them. Has anyone else kept a running count and gotten a totally flat reaction from the crew?
I was reading through some old trade journals online last night and stumbled onto a study from 2019. Turns out nearly 40% of bricklayers I guess are mixing their mortar too wet on site without even realizing it. The article said this weakens the bond by up to 25% over time, especially in freeze-thaw climates like we get up here in Michigan. I double checked my own mix this morning and yeah I have been adding too much water. Has anyone else checked their mortar consistency lately or am I the only one who never thought about it?
Saw a crew using a $40 mortar bag instead of a grinder for a chimney repair and the finish was so clean I had to ask them about it, anyone else ever switched tools mid-project after seeing someone else's method?
I saw a guy on a job in Spokane do this old school trick where you wet the brick face with a buttered slurry first and I always thought it was a waste of time, but after a day of fighting with dry suckers on a 90 degree day it sped me up by maybe 30% and cut down my cleanup way more than I expected, has anyone else messed with this or am I just late to the party?
Took me 3 years of messing up keystone cuts before I figured out how to mark the angles from the center. Anyone else have a trick for keeping the arch consistent on long runs?
I was on a site in Birmingham last Tuesday and this old guy just dabbed a sponge on a messed up mortar joint and it blended in perfect like magic. How do you guys deal with mortar that sets too fast in hot weather without ruining the whole row?
My pointing on this old brownstone in Brooklyn went from chunky and uneven to smooth and tight after I swapped from Type N to a 3:1:1 lime mix, and now I'm wondering if I've been doing it wrong for 5 years, has anyone else seen that big a change from switching your blend?
Spent $40 on some fancy polymer additive that promised stronger joints, and it actually made the mix too sticky to work with properly (like trying to spread wet concrete with a butter knife). Anyone else gotten burned by a product that sounded amazing in theory but was a total disaster on the job?
Back in June 2021 I built a small retaining wall around my mom's flower bed in Portland. I was so proud of it at the time, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Last week I went over to help her with some yard work and noticed the whole thing had started bowing out about 2 inches near the middle. I spent the whole Saturday tearing it down and rebuilding it properly with some crushed gravel base and proper drainage this time. My mom just laughed and said she wondered how long it would take me to notice. Has anyone else gone back to fix their early work and felt kinda dumb about what they missed?
I was working on a small retaining wall last month in my backyard in Des Moines and kept having trouble with the mortar drying too fast in the sun. After three tries of scraping and resetting bricks I tried wetting the bricks themselves before spreading the mortar. It gave me an extra 15 minutes of working time and the bond held way better. Has anyone else tried pre-wetting their bricks on a hot day?