c/bricklayers

Moved my corner leads to string lines, fought it for months

Picked up corner leads when I started laying block up in Akron, figured they kept everything square and I was real comfortable with them. A 60 year old mason came by the job and watched for a bit, said my corners were slowing me down. He set two pins and pulled a string, had me lay the whole run without checking a level once. Tried it on my next garage pour and cut my time by a good third, plus the wall came out dead straight. Anyone else stick with an old habit until someone shows you the faster way?

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troy439•2d ago

Caught myself leveling brick at the wrong end of the wall for 8 years

Last Friday I was setting a garden wall in Austin and my helper asked why I kept tapping the left side of each brick when the right side kept dipping. I told him that's how my first crew chief showed me. He said, but the level says the right side is low. I stopped, checked, and sure enough I had been fighting the level for almost a decade, making everything worse. Turns out my old boss was left handed and never realized he was teaching me his own bad habit. Has anyone else found out they picked up a backwards trick from an early mentor that took forever to catch?

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nora535•2d ago

Why does everybody here ignore the weatherproofing step?

Last week I was on a job in Tacoma and the guy running the crew just laid brick straight over the damp foundation, no membrane, no weep holes, nothing. Three years ago I did a repair on a house in Seattle where the previous guy skipped that and the whole wall was rotting from behind. I get that speed matters but you're just building a future problem. Anyone else see this as a growing trend or am I just the old guy yelling at clouds? What do you tell the young bucks who look at you like you're slowing them down?

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lee.jake•2d ago

Just got back from Charleston, are we overthinking mortar color or is it a real debate?

I was on a job there last week and the old row houses all have that pale cream mortar that pops against the red brick, but my partner swears grey is the only honest choice for new work, so which side actually holds up better over 20 years or are we just arguing about paint?

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val223•4d ago

Heard a homeowner say bricks are just stacked rocks, I laughed for 5 minutes

I was repointing a walkway in Tulsa on Tuesday and the guy comes out, watches me for a bit, then tells his buddy that anyone could do my job since it's just stacking rocks. I asked him if he wanted to try a corner lead for an hour, he looked at the level and said no thanks. Anyone else get comments like this from customers who have no clue about mortar ratios or cutting?

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lee.lucas•5d ago

Hit 4,000 bricks laid in one shift this past Tuesday, never thought I'd see that number

We were doing a warehouse wall in Tulsa and the mortar mix was perfect, not too sticky, so I just got into a rhythm and the foreman counted at the end, I couldn't believe it myself, has anyone else had a day where everything just lined up like that?

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bettyhunt•6d ago

My first cavity wall tie repair actually held up

After 14 years of laying brick I finally had to replace corroded wall ties on a 1962 house in Dayton. I drilled out 40 ties and used the screw-in stainless replacements, worried they would never grip as tight as the originals. They came out great, even passed the inspector's pull test with zero movement. Has anyone else tried the epoxy injection method on older homes, or is that mostly a gimmick?

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karent75•6d ago

Talked to a mason from the 70s about lime mortar, now I second guess everything

Had a guy come into my local supply spot on Friday, must be pushing 70, been laying brick since before I was born. He watched me grab a bag of Portland mix and just shook his head. Said modern mortar is too hard for old brick, makes the brick fail before the joint does. He went on about lime putty and how you have to let it cure slow, and how his crew would mix in a pit and wait a week. I brushed it off at first, but then I looked at a repointing job I did last summer and sure enough, a couple of the old bricks are spalling. I never thought about matching the mortar strength to the brick age, I just used what the hardware store had. Any of you guys actually switch to lime-based mixes for older structures, or is that overthinking it for residential work?

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tyler614•9d ago

Buddy's scaffold setup changed how I prep everything

Watched a guy named Dale lay brick at a job in Akron last month. He set his scaffold with all his straps and levels in a specific order before he even mixed mortar. I always just grabbed stuff as I went. Cost me time and I'd be hunting for my line pins mid-wall. Dale had this old milk crate on the platform holding his trowel, jointer, and brush. Nothing sat on the wall or in his pockets. He told me, "If it's not in arm's reach, it's not part of the job." That clicked for me. Now I lay out my whole station before the first course, even on small repairs. Cut my setup and reset time by maybe 30 minutes a day. Anyone else got a system for keeping tools off the wall?

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ross.river•11d ago

Lost $180 on a 'vintage' brick trowel that turned out to be junk

Picked up an old Marshalltown trowel at an estate sale near Toledo last month, thought I scored a deal. Got it home, sharpened it up, and the handle split on my third course. Found out it was a cheap knockoff from the 80s, not the real deal. Anyone else get burned by fake vintage tools on Facebook Marketplace?

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jamiesingh•12d ago

PSA: mortar joints on old brick are not all the same width

I keep seeing guys rip out 100 year old walls and redo the joints at 3/8 inch everywhere. Last month on a row house in Philly, the original work had 1/4 inch joints on the top half and 1/2 inch near the foundation. That was intentional, it handled settlement and drainage. I checked with a straight edge and a level before we touched anything. You lose the character and the structure if you square everything up. Has anyone else dealt with homeowners wanting brickwork too perfect?

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hugoj86•12d ago

Finally picked lime mortar over Portland for my repoint job in Portland

I mean, I spent a good 20 minutes staring at both bags at the supply shop and went with lime because the old brick here is soft as butter. It's been a few days and the joints are curing nice, no cracking like I saw with Portland on my neighbor's place. Anyone else regret going the easier route on older walls?

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eric_murphy36•18d ago

Unpopular take: fiberglass rebar beats steel for foundation work every time

After 6 years laying block in Phoenix, the rust streaks I see on steel-reinforced stems are proof enough, fiberglass just holds up better against the desert salts, has anyone else switched or am I the only one out here?

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sagesingh•20d ago

That mortar pump clog took me two full shifts to clear

We had a job last Tuesday over on Maple Street, repointing a chimney on a two story. The mortar pump kept jamming up halfway through the afternoon. First I thought it was a bad batch of mix, so we redid the batch twice. Turns out the screen on the hopper had a hairline crack and some pebbles got through. Clearing the line was a nightmare, we had to pull the hose apart in three sections and dig out dried mortar with a wire brush. What should have been a one day job ran into Wednesday evening. I've used that pump for 4 years without a problem, so I never checked the screen. Has anyone else had a small part like that turn into a huge delay?

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paul_webb45•22d ago

Finally realized my mortar mix was way off after 14 years, my trowel told me

Was laying a small garden wall in Austin last weekend and noticed my joints kept sagging, then my buddy who runs a crew in Dallas asked if I was using a 3:1 sand to cement ratio, turns out I'd been eyeballing 1:1 the whole time because I misread a chart back in 2011, has anyone else had a dumb simple mistake like that take years to surface?

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elizabeth_gonzalez•23d ago

Old timer on a job site corrected my mix ratio, big difference

Last month on a patio job in Austin, a retired mason watched me mix mortar and said the slump was too stiff for the brick I was laying. He had me add a half shovel of lime and drop the water a bit, and everything leveled out way smoother. Has anyone else gotten a random correction that completely fixed their technique?

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mason_jackson•28d ago

The laser level I swore off for 20 years finally won me over

I used to set my lines with a string and a chalk box since I started in 1998, and told every apprentice that lasers were for guys who couldn't read a level. Last spring on a long retaining wall job in Tulsa, I borrowed my brother-in-law's green beam unit out of desperation after the wind kept snapping my strings. It took about an hour to trust it, but now I'm wondering if I should just buy my own, anyone else make the switch late and never look back?

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the_miles•28d ago

Mortar mix went wrong on a 40-degree day in Phoenix

I always used the same 4:1 mix, but last summer the heat set it so fast I couldn't tool the joints before it crusted over. Switched to a 5:1 with a dash of lime after watching the guy next door lay 3 courses clean, and now I won't go back. Any desert bricklayers got a go-to ratio for triple-digit temps?

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reed.eva•28d ago

Tried a $15 line laser for brick courses, thought it was a gimmick for 2 months

Finally gave in after my string line snapped for the third time on a job in Austin, and now I can't believe I squared that whole garden wall by eye for years, has anyone else switched and never looked back?

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patricia905•1mo ago

Old timer on site taught me a brick washing trick

Had a job over in Tacoma last spring, 124th and Pacific. This retired mason, Frank, wandered over from the next lot. Said I was scrubbing the new brick too hard with acid. Told me to use a lighter mix, like 5 parts water, and let it sit longer. Saved me three hours of elbow work that day. Anyone else got tips on cleaning efflorescence off fresh work?

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troyp37•1mo ago

Wet mortar sticking to my trowel on a hot day, fixed it with a bucket trick

Down in Austin last week, temps hit 95 and my mortar kept grabbing the trowel like glue, slowing me way down. I tried adding more water but that just made it sloppier. Finally I dunked the trowel in a bucket of ice water between courses and let it air dry for a sec, no more sticking for the rest of the job. Anyone else do something like this or got a better way for summer heat?

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jessicaw11•1mo ago

Acid wash vs. just water, I changed my mind after a job in Orlando

I used to swear by acid washing every brick job before pointing, thought it was the only way to get a clean face. Then last month on a commercial build in Orlando, the general contractor told me to skip it because the new brick was soft and acid would eat the color right out of it. I fought him on it for a bit, but I tried his way with just a stiff brush and water on a test patch, and honestly the mortar smears came off fine after waiting 20 minutes. Saved me a full day of hauling acid jugs and rinsing everything twice, plus no discolored corners on the finished facade. Now I only acid wash old salvaged brick covered in years of grime, but for fresh stock I stick to water and a decent scrub. Anyone else had a job where they stopped using acid and it worked out better than they expected?

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lewis.charlie•1mo ago

My father's 200lb mixer vs the new one I finally broke down and bought

I ran my dad's old 200lb mixer for 15 years, the thing had a gas motor and you had to start it with a pull cord like a lawnmower. Last month I finally got one of those smaller electric jobbies, and it's WAY quieter but the drum doesn't spin as fast, so my mud consistency came out too stiff on the first two jobs. I had to add water mid-wall in a garage in Waco and it made a mess. Anyone else fight through the learning curve when they switched from a big old mixer to a compact one?

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cora400•1mo ago

Level line trick I ignored for years finally proved its worth

Honestly, I always thought the water level was old school nonsense. I used a laser level on every job and figured that was enough. Then last Tuesday we had a retaining wall project in Ames where the sun glare made the laser completely useless by noon. I dug out my granddad's old water level from the truck and set it up on two stakes. It took maybe 10 minutes to get the reference marks sorted, but the readings were dead consistent across 40 feet. Not a single bubble off. I finished that wall and checked everything with a string line the next morning, it matched perfectly. Now I carry that water level as backup on every big job. Has anyone else had a laser fail on a bright day and had to fall back on something older and dumber looking?

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paul_webb45•1mo ago

My level just took a dive off a scaffold on a job site near Nashville

Had a brand new 4-foot Stabila level sitting balanced on a wall while I grabbed mortar, and a gust of wind knocked it off, snapped the vial clean out, cost me $120 to replace so now I'm back to using a beat up old one until payday, anyone else had a tool fail on you like that out of nowhere?

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