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Had a whole wall start to bow on a job in Phoenix last summer when the mortar set way too fast.
We kept spraying the bricks and mixing smaller batches with cold water, which saved it from having to come down, but has anyone else found a better trick for that kind of dry heat?
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jordan_king7mo ago
That trick with the spray bottle butler.ivan mentioned is smart. It reminds me of a crew I saw once that had rigged up a simple shade cloth on poles over the section of wall they were working. It was just some old canvas tarps, but it cut the direct sun and dropped the surface temp of those bricks by what felt like twenty degrees. They weren't fighting the mortar at all. Sometimes the old low tech fix is the right one.
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gibson.holly7mo ago
We did a big repointing job in Phoenix last summer and shade cloth was the only thing that kept us on schedule. The boss found some cheap aluminet mesh that reflected a ton of heat. It felt like working in a different month entirely.
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butler.ivan7mo ago
Ever try using a retarder in your mortar mix? We had a mason on a big patio job swear by adding just a little bit to the water. It doesn't change the strength, it just slows the set time down enough to give you a fighting chance. He'd even keep a spray bottle with a diluted mix to mist the bricks themselves before laying them. It was a game changer for those brutal afternoon hours.
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