I finally asked the old foreman why he always wet the bricks twice

Back in 2009 I was working a retaining wall job outside Cleveland and this guy Frank, must have been 60, kept spraying the bricks down again right before we laid them. I asked him about it and he said dry bricks will suck the moisture right out of the mortar and you'll get cracks that show up a year later. Ever since I've done it on hot days and I've never had a wall fail on me, has anyone else picked up a weird habit from an old timer that you swear by now?

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olivia_bailey7d ago

Oh man, I read somewhere that bricks act like sponges and pull water from the mortar if the temps are roasting, so your guy Frank knew what he was doing. That little trick sounds like the kind of thing you'd never forget once you see it work.