c/bricklayers

That foreman on the Hudson job told me my trowel technique was wasting mortar

I was slapping the mud on too thick and spreading it out too wide, after he showed me to keep my trowel at a steeper angle and only butter the center third of each brick, I cut my mortar waste by nearly 25 percent on that project and the wall came out flatter, has anyone else gotten yelled at about their trowel grip and actually made a change?

Old timer told me I was wasting mortar by buttering too thick

I had this guy watch me lay a wall for 10 minutes and he said I'm using way too much mud on each brick. He showed me how a thin even spread actually grabs better and saves about 20% per batch. I tried his method on a garden wall in Austin and my joints came out cleaner with less squeeze out. Has anyone else cut back on mortar and seen better results?

Old timer told me to wet my bricks before laying them

Last summer on a job in Austin, this retired mason who was watching me work said I needed to wet my bricks first. I figured he was just old school and it was 95 degrees out, so I skipped it. By the end of the day, the mortar was drying way too fast and I had cracks forming in three spots. Had to tear out a whole section the next morning. He was right, dry bricks in hot weather just suck the moisture right out of the mix. Anybody else run into this or am I the only one who had to learn the hard way?

Tried hydraulic mortar vs. traditional lime mix on a retaining wall last week - never going back

I was working a 60-foot retaining wall job outside Portland and decided to test hydraulic mortar on one end and our usual lime mix on the other. The hydraulic mortar set up in about 3 hours versus waiting overnight for the lime to harden enough to keep working. By day two, the hydraulic side was solid and I had to drill for anchor pins while the lime side still crumbled when I tapped it. Anyone else run into this and what did you switch to?

Learned the hard way about mixing mortar in freezing temps last week in Denver

Left a batch out overnight when it dropped to 20 degrees and the whole pallet of bricks shifted two inches after it thawed. Has anyone else had a cold weather job go sideways like this?

Old foreman told me to stop soaking my bricks before laying them

I had this foreman named Ray on a job in St. Louis back in March. He saw me wetting down a whole pallet of bricks and just shook his head. Ray said I was making them too soft and they'd shift after the mortar set. I didn't believe him at first. But after 2 weeks we had a few walls where the bricks had settled crooked and I had to tear out a whole section. Now I only mist them lightly right before I lay them. Anyone else run into this with different brick types?

Tried lime mortar on a 1900s row house repoint in Baltimore and instantly regretted not using type N

Lime mortar is a nightmare to work with in cold weather, took me 3 times longer to set and it still crumbled in a spot. Has anyone else switched back to modern mix for historical jobs just to save your hands?

Took me 8 hours to figure out a corner I should have finished in 2

Working on a garden wall in Portland last Friday. Got this corner where two different bond patterns meet at a 45 degree angle near a window. Thought I had it mapped in my head. Cut about 15 bricks before I realized my angle was off by 3 degrees. Had to grind every single one down to fit. My buddy Mark just laughed and said I should have dry laid it first. Has anyone else wasted a whole day on something that should have been a quick fix?

Old foreman swore by soaking bricks overnight before laying them in summer

Worked a stretch in Phoenix last July where temps hit 110. Foreman said dunk every brick in a water trough for 20 seconds before buttering. I figured dry bricks would be fine and skip it on a few rows. Those joints cracked within a week and I had to tear out a whole wall. Now I soak every single one no matter how hot it gets. Anyone else run into mortar drying too fast in extreme heat?

My mortar mix was setting too fast on a hot job in Phoenix

Last summer I was working on a retaining wall in Phoenix and the temp hit 110. My mortar was stiffening up in the wheelbarrow after like 5 minutes. I started adding more water but that made it weak and crumbly. A old timer walked by and told me to use ice water instead of tap water. I threw a couple bags of ice in my mixing bucket and it gave me a solid 15 extra minutes of working time. Anyone else dealt with heat messing up your mix timing?

Hit 100,000 bricks laid yesterday. Didn't think much of it until I did the math.

I keep a tally in my notebook, mostly out of habit. Yesterday I passed 100,000 bricks laid over 12 years in the trade. That's a lot of mortar mix and blisters. My first year I barely did 3,000, now I can do that in a week on a good wall. Made me think how many walls I've walked away from that are still standing. Any of you guys count your bricks or just eyeball it?

Chat with a site foreman changed how I stack corners

He told me last week that I was taking too long because I was leveling every course instead of trusting my eye... said he's been setting corners by feel for 20 years. Now I'm trying it and my pace has picked up. Any bricklayers here still use a level every time?

The wooden float trick that fixed my mortar issue

I was having trouble with mortar sticking to my trowel on a hot job last August in Phoenix. An old bricklayer I met on site told me to wet my wooden float and tap it dry before using it. That one little step cut my cleanup time by half and the mortar laid way smoother. Has anyone else tried this or got a better way for hot weather work?

Spent 3 days fighting a wall that kept going out of plumb before a job foreman pointed out my string line was touching a brick

Been laying for 5 years and never realized the line sagging a quarter inch could throw off an entire 40-foot wall, has anyone else had a simple setup issue cost them half a work week?

That $60 mortar mixer attachment I never use

Bought a mortar mixer attachment for my drill about 2 years ago thinking it would save me time on small jobs. Used it once on a backyard wall project and it barely mixed half a batch before the coupler started slipping. Ended up mixing by hand in a wheelbarrow anyway like always. $60 down the drain and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. Anybody else fall for a tool that looked good in the ad but was useless on site?

Vent: Wasted $300 on a mortar mixer attachment that couldn't handle a single batch of type S

Bought one of those cheap auger-style mixer drills from a big box store last spring and the gearbox melted down after 15 minutes of mixing a stiff batch for a retaining wall in July, has anyone else had better luck with a specific brand under $500?

Stopped by that old brickyard in St. Louis last week

I was driving through St. Louis and pulled over at the Meyer brick yard that's been running since the 1800s. They had a pile of handmade bricks from the 1920s that were all uneven and soft looking compared to modern machine ones. Anyone else ever used reclaimed old school bricks on a job and regretted it or loved it?

My trowel handle snapped clean off on a job in Austin yesterday

It was a W Rose from 2007, the wood just gave out mid-butter, and I had to borrow a plastic handled Marshall from the apprentice for the rest of the day, has anyone else had an old tool fail at the worst possible time?

Bought a $90 mortar mixer paddle for my drill and it's been a total back saver

I was mixing by hand for a small patio job and my shoulder was killing me after day one. This thing whipped up a full batch in under two minutes with no lumps. Anyone else have a small tool that made a big difference on the job?

Heard a guy at the supply yard say he never uses a line level anymore.

He was telling his buddy that a 4-foot level and a sharp eye is faster and just as true. Tried it on a garden wall in Springfield last week. Honestly, it cut my setup time down by about 15 minutes. Anyone else skip the string line for smaller jobs?

Vent: My mortar mixer gave out halfway through a big patio job

I was about three hours into mixing for a 400 square foot patio in Springfield when the motor just quit. It was an old 5 cubic foot model I've had for maybe eight years. I had to run to the rental place and grab a new one, which set me back about 75 bucks for the day. Anyone have a good brand of mixer that's lasted them a long time?

Heard a young guy at the supply yard call a trowel 'that flat metal thing' and it made me think about how we learn the trade now.

I was at a job in Tampa and saw a crew skip the line block, and I think they're right

Honestly, I was working on a big commercial job in Tampa about six months ago. The crew next to us was laying up a straight run of block for a warehouse wall, and I noticed they weren't using a line block at all. They just had a guy on each end with a level and a string line pulled tight. I asked their foreman about it, and he said, 'We haven't used a block on a run under 50 feet for three years. It's faster and the line doesn't catch.' I tried it myself on a small garden wall the next week, and ngl, it felt weird at first. But after checking every third course, my plumb was just as good. I think a lot of us stick to the line block because it's what we were taught, but it can actually slow you down on simple, straight work. Has anyone else tried laying off the block for longer stretches?

Spent $800 on a new laser level for a big job in Charlotte

It was a huge project with a lot of long walls, and I thought the laser would save a ton of time setting lines. Some guys on my crew say it was a waste and old school string lines are just as fast once you know how to use them. I'm on the fence now, because it did help with speed but the battery died at a bad time. What's your go-to for keeping a long wall straight?

My uncle told me to always butter both ends of a brick and I thought he was just being old school