eric359•2d agoOG Member

I finally realized my mortar mix was way too wet after 8 years

I've been laying brick for about a decade, mostly residential jobs around Nashville. Last month on a retaining wall for a homeowner in Franklin, I kept having bricks slide on me and it took forever to set. The old timer who was helping me, Bob, just shook his head and said 'son, your mortar looks like soup.' He showed me his mix and it held a knife edge perfect. I had been adding extra water because I thought it made it easier to work with, but I was just weakening everything and causing slumping. Turns out a drier mix is way more forgiving for keeping your lines straight. Has anyone else had a supervisor point out a basic habit they thought was fine?

2 comments

2 Comments

bailey.xena2d ago

Oh man, that Bob sounds like a gem. So what was the final straw for you? Like, was it just the bricks sliding or did it take you a while to actually accept the advice? I'm curious how you made the switch in your head, cause for me it's always a little humbling when some old pro points out something I should've caught years ago. Did he show you the exact mix he likes, or did you just dial back the water on your own after that day?

miles_jackson91d ago

Hell yeah, Bob sounds like a legend. Man, I had a similar thing happen with my first boss when I was roofing about 12 years ago. I was nailing down shingles way too tight, like really pounding them in, thinking it made everything stronger. He just walked up, bent one up with his fingers and said "you're crushing the shingles, kid. They need to breathe a little." Took me a solid two weeks before I stopped hammering like a gorilla. Funny how the stuff you think is helping is actually just making more work for yourself.