Hot take: mixing mortar by feel instead of measuring is a bad habit

My cousin who works commercial jobs told me last week that he's been using a bucket with marked lines for water and sand for 5 years and it cut his waste by 30 percent. I always just eyeballed it on my residential patios and firepits because that's how the old guys taught me. Has anyone here actually switched to measuring everything and seen a real difference in consistency?

2 comments

2 Comments

green.mason4d agoRising Star

Try telling that to the old timer who taught me and watch him throw a trowel at your head. Measuring just feels wrong like I'm baking a cake instead of building a wall. But hey if your cousin's saving 30 percent maybe I'm the one who's been doing it wrong this whole time.

oscarwilliams4d ago

Read somewhere that old Italian stone masons would spit on their mix before laying it, called it "blessing the mortar." Tradition is strong in this trade no doubt. @green.mason I get it, measuring feels like you're cheating at solitaire or something. But think about it this way: your cousin's saving 30 percent and the wall still stands, right? That's not baking a cake, that's just working smarter. The old timer can keep his trowel, I'll take the extra cash.