c/bricklayers

Tried wet saw vs angle grinder for 2 weeks straight on a job in Portland

Wet saw was cleaner but slow as hell, angle grinder cut my time by 30% but left me dealing with dust clouds. Which do you guys lean on for quick cuts on a tight timeline?

Watch out for old lime mortar on repointing jobs - it cost me 3 extra days

I took on a repointing job last week on a house built in 1920 near Cleveland. Thought I could just mix up some standard type N and be done in two days. Turns out the original mortar was soft lime based, and my new mix was way too hard - it would have cracked the old bricks over time. I had to grind out all my work and order a special lime mortar from a supplier 60 miles away. Has anyone else run into this with older homes, or did I just miss something obvious in my prep?

Figured out I was mixing mortar wrong after 8 years on the job

Was laying brick at a church renovation in downtown Akron last week and noticed my joints kept cracking after just a day. An old timer walked by and asked if I was measuring my water by eye. I told him yeah, always have. He pulled out a bucket and showed me how my mix was way too wet compared to his. Been doing it that way since I started and never questioned it. Anyone else have a basic trick they learned way later than they should have?

Best day I've had on the job in years was last Tuesday in Detroit

Started laying a curved wall for a garden project at 7am. Got the whole thing done by lunch. No mistakes, no rework. The homeowner even brought out sandwiches. Been doing this 12 years and that kind of day is rare. Anyone else ever have a job just click like that?

The difference a lime mortar mix made on my 1920s repoint job

Been doing brickwork for 15 years. Always used standard Type N mortar for repointing old houses. Figured it was fine. Then I got a call to fix a wall on a 1922 house in our historic district. Owner insisted on lime mortar. I was skeptical. After I mixed it up and started working it in, the difference was night and day. The old soft bricks weren't fighting the mortar at all. That was two years ago. I drove by last week and the joints still look perfect with no cracks. My normal mortar jobs always show hairline cracks after one winter. Anyone else switch to lime for historic work and see your repairs last way longer?

Just realized my mortar mix was too wet for months

I was working on a retaining wall in Akron last week and kept having bricks slide out of place. Finally measured the slump on my mix and it was way off, like 6 inches when it should have been 2. I always just eyeballed the water, but now I use a 5 gallon bucket with marks. Anyone else have trouble with consistency on hot days?

Ran into an old foreman who changed how I look at mortar mix ratios

He told me he's been using a half scoop less sand per batch for 20 years and his walls never crack, so now I'm second guessing everything I learned about mix consistency - has anyone else tweaked their sand ratio and seen better results?

That old timer who showed me a trick with a wet sponge...

Had a guy about 70 years old stop by a job site in Dayton back in 2013... he just watched me lay a few bricks, then showed me how to wet the sponge just right to clean the mortar off the face without smearing it... Has anyone else picked up a tip from a random stranger that stuck with you?

Thought those fancy mortar additives were a gimmick, but a job in Cleveland changed my mind

I've been laying brick for 12 years and always swore by just water and type N, figured the extra stuff was just upselling. Then I had to repoint a 1920s church wall last October in the rain and the regular mix kept washing out before I could finish. Has anyone else found a specific additive that actually made your work hold up better in bad weather?

I finally switched to a mud board on a job site in Richmond

Was working a tight fireplace job last month in Richmond and my bucket kept sliding around. A older mason I was subbing for handed me his mud board setup and I got through the rest of the day without spilling a drop. Has anyone else found that a mud board saves time on small corners or is it just me?

Unpopular opinion: brick ties matter more than most guys think

Last Tuesday I was working on a retaining wall in Austin and the inspector flagged my spacing because I had them every 16 inches instead of 12. I double checked my math and the wind loads in that area were way higher than I thought. Has anyone else had an inspector make them add more ties on an existing wall?

Mortar mix from 2019 vs 2024 - is it just me or is the color fading way faster now?

I built a retaining wall near Austin back in 2019 using the same brand and type of mortar I bought last spring, and the new stuff is already looking bleached and chalky while the old wall still has that deep gray tone, so what changed in the formula or did I just get a bad batch?

Been noticing a weird trend with brick ties lately

Was reading through some old spec sheets from a 2018 job in Portland and noticed they called for stainless steel ties everywhere, even interior walls. Fast forward to this week, I'm seeing builders spec plain galvanized for exterior cavity walls to cut costs. Just talked to a supplier who said the price difference is like $0.15 per tie now, so I guess it adds up on big jobs. Anyone else seeing contractors cheap out on ties more often now?

My mortar mixer threw a belt halfway through a job in Denver yesterday

I was in the middle of laying a retaining wall in Capitol Hill when the old mixer just started smoking and then stopped. The belt snapped clean in two, which I didn't even know could happen on those things (it's a 3-year-old unit). I had 200 bricks already staged and a helper standing around waiting, so I had to drive 20 minutes to the rental place and grab a backup. That cost me $60 for the day and probably ate up 2 hours of daylight. Has anybody else dealt with a mixer belt failing out of nowhere, or am I just unlucky?

Is stacking wet mortar joints actually faster than dry ones?

Been on a commercial job in Grand Rapids for the last 3 weeks. Half the crew stacks with wet mortar joints, the other half goes dry and lets the bricks soak up moisture before laying. I've timed both methods. Wet joint guys lay about 80 bricks an hour, dry joint guys hit 95. But seeing more cracking in the dry sections after a week of curing. My foreman says dry is fine if you pre-wet the bricks right, but I'm not convinced. What's your experience with this over a full job?

Found out the hard way why you should wet your bricks before laying in hot weather...

I was laying a garden wall in Phoenix last July and my mortar was drying out before I could even comb it. Started dipping each brick in a bucket of water first and the bond held way better... no more dusting the next day. Has anyone else had luck with that on big jobs?

Old timer showed me a trick for keeping mortar from drying out on hot days after 20 years of fighting it

Been laying brick in Phoenix for 15 years. Every summer I'd mix small batches and still end up wasting 20% because it set up too fast. Last month a retired mason named Pete watched me for about 10 minutes, walked over, and told me to toss a wet burlap sack over the pile and spray it down every 15 minutes. Not just cover it, soak it. Tried it on a 105 degree day and my mortar stayed workable for almost 2 hours. Mixed up 5 buckets worth at once and barely threw any away. Huge time saver. Anyone else got tricks for beating the heat that the old guys never wrote down?

Pro tip: stopped using plastic spacers, switched to metal ones on a job in Phoenix last month

I was always grabbing those cheap plastic spacers for block work but kept having them snap or shift in the heat. Finally tried a set of old-school metal spacers from a guy retiring, and honestly, my lines came out way straighter. Cost me about $40 more but saved me from redoing a whole section. Anyone else find metal spacers worth the extra hassle?

I was dead wrong about using a level every three courses

For ten years I thought checking level every few rows was just a crutch for people who couldn't lay a straight line by eye. Took a job on a retaining wall in Portland last spring, 40 feet long, and I got cocky. By the time I hit course eight the whole thing was leaning a quarter inch to the left over ten feet. Had to tear out two full days of work and start over. Now I set my line and check level every third course without fail. Anyone else have a stubborn habit they had to break the hard way?

Just saw some wild pointing work on a church in Savannah

I was down in Savannah last weekend visiting family and walked past this old brick church on Bull Street. The repointing was awful, they used grey mortar on red clay bricks and it was cracking already. Has anyone else run into bad mortar matching on historic buildings?

Vent: Old timer told me to stop buttering my bricks and I laughed at him

About 8 years ago I was working a job in Tulsa with a guy who'd been laying brick since the 70s. He saw me putting a thick layer of mortar on every single brick before setting it and told me I was wasting time and material. I laughed it off because I thought he was just old fashioned and slow. Then after three days of watching me struggle to keep a consistent line he finally pulled me aside and showed me his method. He just dabbed the corners and let the trowel do the work. I tried it on the next wall and cut my time by almost a third. Now I see new guys doing the same thing I used to do and I want to tell them but nobody listens to advice from a stranger. Has anyone else had a seasoned bricklayer call them out on a bad habit?

That job at the old church taught me a lesson about sand mix ratios

I was working on a repointing job at a Methodist church downtown, the one built back in 1929. The mortar we mixed up was feeling too sandy and crumbly on the second day, so I stopped and tested it against a sample from the wall. Turned out my helper put in 3 extra shovelfuls of sand because he thought it looked dry. Had to chip out 12 feet of fresh work and redo it the next day, which cost me a full Saturday. Now I measure every batch with a bucket, not a shovel. Has anyone else had a helper mess up a mix that bad and how do you stop it before it sets?

Told my foreman my mortar mix was too dry and he told me to shut up and lay brick

Three years ago I was working a job site in Akron, Ohio right after a dry spell. I pointed out the mix was crumbling instead of sticking, you know, basic stuff we all learn. Foreman got in my face, said I had no business questioning his 20 years of experience. Next morning the wall had a 3 foot section that just fell apart, and he tried to blame it on me. Has anyone else had a supervisor who wouldn't listen to basic moisture ratios?

Unpopular opinion: Leveling clips are a crutch that make us lazy

I spent two years using those spin leveling clips on every job because everyone swore they saved time. Then I had a job in Portland where the supplier sent the wrong size tabs and I couldn't get replacements for three days. I had to lay 400 square feet of porcelain tile by eye with just spacers and a hammer. And you know what? The floor came out flatter than any clip job I ever did. The clips were hiding the fact that I wasn't checking my lines properly or adjusting my mortar thickness. When I had to actually feel the tile settle and tap it level, I got better results. Now I only use clips on the big format stuff over 24 inches, and even then I'm more careful about my base. Anyone else ditch the gadgets and go back to basics?

Used to eyeball my mortar lines for a garden wall, now I use a story pole for every single course. The difference is night and day.