Overheard a foreman say he soaks his bricks before laying in summer heat

Tried it this week on a house in Austin and the mortar stayed workable nearly twice as long, has anyone else found a good soak time that doesn't make the bricks too heavy to handle?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxmurphy1mo ago

Ha, nice! Soaking bricks makes total sense in that Texas heat. Bet you could even spray them down right before laying to keep the moisture up without making them soggy.

taylor821mo ago

@maxmurphy I mean sure, if you want to get that technical about it. But is it really that serious? Brick laying is pretty straightforward, you mix the mortar, slap the brick on, and move on. Soaking them just sounds like extra work for something that's gonna dry anyway. I've laid plenty of brick in the sun without soaking and never had issues. Maybe I'm just lucky but it feels like overthinking it. Then again, I'm not building anything fancy, just garden walls and stuff.