I was repointing an old stone wall in Portland and added too much water to my lime mortar. The stuff just slid right off my trowel and wouldn't hold a shape. Has anyone else had trouble keeping the water ratio right with NHL lime?
I was walking my dog last week past that place and spotted the corner brick I laid back in 2011 with that weird little chip near the edge, and I just stood there thinking about how we used to mix mud by hand and now everything's pumped from a machine, has anyone else gone back to see their old work hold up?
I was visiting family last fall and noticed the bricks on this old church were still perfectly tight, no cracks or shifting. Has anyone else seen really old brickwork that holds up better than anything we do today?
I got a pallet of bricks from a supplier down in Richmond back in 2021. Looked fine on the outside but about halfway through the job I noticed some were chipping weird. Turns out they had a bad batch with hidden cracks from frost damage. Customer called me out on it after a heavy rain last spring when the whole front walkway started flaking apart. Cost me $1,200 out of pocket to tear it out and redo it proper. Anyone else run into shady brick stock that looked good at first?
He was talking to some kid on his crew, saying anything over 3/8 means you cant cut a brick straight and youre hiding bad work. Ive been running 1/2 inch on most of my jobs for years. Never had a complaint. Made me wonder if Im taking the easy way out or if hes just a perfectionist. Anyone run into a foreman like that?
Big mistake. The whole thing tipped sideways on the driveway at the Johnson site. Lost about 150 bricks. Cracked. Nobody got hurt but my pride took a beating. Had to hand stack the rest of the day. What do you guys use on uneven ground?
Guy I was working with on a restoration in Shadyside stopped me mid-wall and said 'slow down, you're making more work for yourself'. He was right about the butter joints - spent an extra 2 hours the next day fixing my sloppy work. Anyone else had an old head set them straight like that?
I was working a job in the Central West End and this guy who's been laying since the 70s walked up. He saw me struggling with a wet saw on some fire brick. Told me to score it with a trowel and smack it on the edge of a bucket. Worked perfect on the first try. Felt like an idiot for not knowing that. Any of you guys use that method or stick with saws for fire brick?
I keep hearing guys say you gotta stick to the exact Type S or Type N ratio or your wall will fall down. But I've been using a generic mix from the hardware store in Brookfield on my last 3 retaining walls and not a single crack after 18 months. Anyone else think the brand loyalty is more about marketing than reality?
I was working a garden wall in Phoenix last July. Mix was drying out before I could even lay it. An old mason told me to soak the bricks the night before. Tried it Thursday morning. Mortar stayed workable way longer. Has anyone else done this for summer jobs?
I went back to a house I worked on in 2021 and compared it to a retaining wall I finished in October. The older wall had some bad efflorescence and a couple loose bricks near the top, but the new one is still clean and tight. What changed in your guys' experience that makes the biggest difference for long term looks?
So I'm working on this garden wall out in Austin last week, right? I mix my mortar, lay the first course, everything is going smooth. Then I realize I forgot to soak the bricks and they're sucking all the moisture out of the mortar like crazy. Spent the next 3 hours chipping out half the wall and redoing it because the bonds were all weak. Has anyone else had a brain fart like this mess up their whole workflow?
I was laying a garden wall in Phoenix last August and kept getting dry joints that crumbled - soaked a bucket of commons for 15 minutes and they stuck perfect, anyone else do this on summer jobs?
I was reading a trade safety article last week and it said silica dust from cutting old brick stays in your lungs way longer than I thought. The stat that got me was that you can be exposed for under a year and still have scarring show up 10 or 15 years down the road. I always wore a mask on big jobs but sometimes skipped it for quick cuts. Now I'm going back and buying better respirators for my crew. Has anyone else here had a close call with dust they ignored?
Always used silica because it's cheaper, but my supplier was out so I grabbed brick sand on a whim. The joint packing was way tighter and I didn't have to sweep it three times like I usually do. Anyone else notice a real difference or was this just luck?
Was reading through a 2019 masonry manual from the BIA last night and saw a study that blew my mind. They tested 50 different brick types and drying them out before laying gave a 30% stronger bond on average. My old foreman always had us hose down everything even in summer. Now I'm wondering how many walls I've built that are basically just held together by gravity and hope. Has anyone else actually tested this on a jobsite or is it just one of those lab things that dont translate?
I always thought they were just making a big deal about repointing historic brickwork, but seeing how the original soft lime mortar was crumbling around those hand-molded bricks changed my mind. Have any of you worked with lime mortar on older buildings, and does it really hold up better than modern mix?
I swear I can still feel it in my back from those days, now I just wheel out the mixer and get done in half the time, but has anyone else noticed the newer mortar sets way faster than the old stuff we used?
I was working on a commercial building in Denver last fall and the GC kept flagging my corners. He said they were 2mm off on three different walls. I spent an extra 4 hours redoing them and realized my corner block setup was just lazy. Now I always double check my leads with a level before I even start laying corner blocks. Has anyone else had a GC call them out on something that made you change your whole method?
I was working a retaining wall job out in Henderson back in 2018 and this retired mason Frank walked up, asked if he could watch. He pointed out I was buttering my bricks wrong, showed me this little wrist flick that saved me like 30 seconds per brick. I still think about that guy every time I do a wall, anyone else ever get taught by some random old timer on a jobsite?
He laid out this perfect curving wall just by eyeballing the string placement and adjusting as he went, made me realize I was overcomplicating things by trying to measure every single brick angle, has anyone else found a trick for making string lines work on tight radiuses without it looking lumpy?
I was out on a delivery near Richmond last week and passed this torn-down building from the 1920s. The brick they pulled out had this deep purple color from the old kiln firing, way different than the orange stuff at Home Depot. Honestly I always thought reclaimed brick was overpriced and not worth the hassle, but seeing a whole stack of it with the original mortar still intact changed my mind. I talked to the demo guy and he said they sell it for $1.50 per brick, which beats the $0.80 new stuff when you factor in how long it lasts. Has anyone here actually used old salvaged brick on a job and found it held up better than new?
I picked up one of those cheaper laser levels from Home Depot to try and speed up my course lines, but it drifted off plumb after like 10 minutes. Had to redo a whole section of a retaining wall in Austin. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific brand that doesn't break the bank?
I had this old brick wall behind a storefront in southeast Portland that needed repointing bad. The original mortar was soft lime based stuff crumbling to dust. I spent like two weeks going back and forth with the building owner about whether to match it with lime or just use Type N for the strength. He kept saying Type N would hold up better and be cheaper, like 40 dollars a bag vs 60 for the lime mix. I finally talked him into going with the NHL 3.5 lime mortar because these old soft bricks need to breathe. Man what a mess that was. The lime takes forever to cure and you have to keep it wet for days. But six months later I walked by and the wall looked perfect, no cracks at all. The bricks were still solid too. Has anyone else had to fight a customer on using the right mortar for an old building?
He told me to stop dumping the water in first and then the mix. Said to dry blend everything for a full minute before adding water, and it cuts down on air pockets way better. Anyone else try this method or am I just behind the times?