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Used to wet every brick before laying until I worked a job in Arizona last July
I grew up learning to soak bricks so they wouldn't suck the moisture out of the mortar, but out in the dry heat that just made a runny mess. After fighting sagging joints for three days on a retaining wall near Phoenix, I tried laying them dry and the mortar held perfect. Has anyone else found that local climate overrides the old rules more than the old timers want to admit?
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troy4391mo ago
Oh man, isn't that the truth? I had the exact same problem last summer on a wall near Las Vegas... kept wetting the bricks like my grandpa taught me and the mortar just slid right off the trowel. It was like trying to stack pancakes. Switched to dry bricks on the second course and everything locked up solid, no sag at all. That dry desert air just pulls the moisture right out anyway, so soaking them only makes a soupy mess that won't hold a shape. I figure the old timers learned that trick in humid climates, but out here the rules are just backwards.
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phoenixh741mo ago
Learned that same lesson the hard way framing a patio cover in Phoenix, @troy439. Soaked the bricks like I was back in Ohio and ended up with a leaning wall that looked drunk by lunch.
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