Hot take: I was butterflying my bricks all wrong for 2 years

I always thought you had to load the mortar thick on both sides of the brick before laying. Then last month a guy named Mike from a job site in Columbus saw me doing it and asked why I was doubling my work. He showed me how to just butter the back edge and let the bed do the rest. It cut my time per course by like a third easy. Has anybody else had a basic habit someone else corrected on site?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantthomas27d ago

Whoa hold on man. I gotta respectfully push back on this one. I've been laying brick for over 15 years and I still butter both sides of every brick, especially the head joint. That's not doubling your work, that's making sure your joints are full and you don't get voids that let water in later. Mike might be fast but I bet he's chasing leaks in a few years when the wind driven rain finds those empty spots. You can skimp on the bed joint a little because the mortar from the course below fills in, but the head joint needs that extra butter to push together tight. Plus with thicker butter on both sides you get better control over your line and level. I'd rather take an extra 10 minutes per course than redo a whole wall because I got lazy.

river_bailey227d ago

That "wind driven rain" line hit home man. I once spent a whole weekend patching a wall where the previous guy didn't butter the head joints and the owner was finding wet spots inside every time it stormed. You ever had to chip out mortar that thin?