c/bricklayers

Warning: My old mortar mixer gave out on a big job in Phoenix last week

I was halfway through mixing a batch for a retaining wall when the motor just quit... no smoke, just dead. It was a 15 year old unit I got from my uncle. I had to run to the rental place and grab a new one, which cost me $85 for the day and put me two hours behind. Has anyone else had a mixer die on them like that, and is it worth fixing an old one?

Tried a 12-inch level versus my old 4-footer on a chimney rebuild near Buffalo and the shorter one was way faster for checking plumb on each course.

The 4-footer kept catching on the scaffolding and I wasted time repositioning it, but the 12-inch level let me check right where I was laying without moving my feet, so what's your go-to level for tall, tight work?

Always thought a 4-foot level was overkill for residential chimneys

Last month in Cincinnati, a client wanted a 30-foot chimney on a new build. My boss insisted on the big level for the whole run. I argued it was slow. But after checking it, the plumb was perfect all the way up. Saved us a ton of time fixing it later. Anyone else have a tool they fought against that ended up being essential?

My new $140 brick hammer finally paid for itself today

I was cleaning up a cut on a hard firebrick and my old hammer just bounced off, chipping the edge. Grabbed the new one (it's a 28oz with a longer handle) and it split the brick clean on the first swing. Saved me from having to re-cut and waste a whole unit. Anyone have a favorite brand for tough brick like that?

Saw a brick arch in Savannah that made me scratch my head

I was down in Savannah last week checking out the old district and saw this huge brick arch over a garden gate. The thing is, the mortar joints were super thin, like maybe 1/8 inch, and the bricks were cut at these wild angles to fit the curve. How do you even keep that consistent all the way around without the whole thing looking off? Anyone ever had to build something like that and have a trick for it?

Spent a full day trying to match a 100-year-old mortar color

The client wanted a perfect match for a repair on their old brick house. I must have mixed 15 different samples before getting it right, and the sun kept changing how it looked. Anyone have a better method than just eyeballing it?

My foreman in Toledo said a 4-foot level is a crutch for bad line work

I argued for a week, but after laying a 50-foot run of soldier course without one, I finally get it. Anyone else forced to ditch a tool that made them better?

Spent a whole day trying to match a 100-year-old brick for a repair

Got a call to patch a small section of a foundation on an old house in the historic district. The homeowner had a few of the original bricks from 1923. Thought it would be a quick trip to the yard, but nothing modern came close to the color and texture. I must have called six different suppliers across three counties. Finally found a place that does custom reclaims, but they needed a sample to match. The whole thing, from first look to having the right bricks in hand, took almost two weeks. Anyone else have a go-to source for matching really old stock?

Update: My old boss in Detroit always said to use a 3/8 inch trowel for everything. A brick veneer job last month proved him wrong.

Unpopular opinion: The new lime mix from that big box store sets up too fast for a beginner.

I watched a guy try to build a simple garden wall with it last week, and his first six courses were a mess by the time he got to the end of the line. After he switched to the old-school bagged stuff, the whole job went smooth and looked clean. Is the faster set worth the hassle for someone still learning?

Had a mortar mix that was setting up way too fast in the Phoenix heat yesterday

Out of desperation, I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade from my cooler and mixed a splash in. It actually bought me an extra 15 minutes of workable time before it started to crust. Anyone else ever try something weird like that to fight the clock?

PSA: The old lime putty we found under a floor in Savannah is still soft after 80 years

We were doing a demo job and pulled up some rotted boards. Underneath was this gray, putty-like mortar that was still pliable with a trowel. It made me look up old mix ratios, and it turns out they used a crazy high lime-to-sand proportion back then. Anyone else run into mortar that just refuses to fully set?

The week we had to tear down and rebuild a 40-foot garden wall because the footing was wrong

Got a call from a homeowner in Greenville who said his new wall was leaning after a heavy rain. Showed up and found the footing was only 8 inches deep in clay soil, not the 18 inches we spec. We had to pull every single brick, dig a proper trench, and pour a new concrete base, which set us back three full days. The original crew just vanished, so we ate the cost to make it right. Ever had to completely redo another crew's mess because they cut corners on the basics?

That job in Tacoma where we had to lay 800 bricks a day

Last Tuesday, the foreman said we had to finish a whole garden wall by Friday, which meant hitting 800 bricks each day. We started at 6 AM with a new mortar mix that set way too fast in the sun. By 10 AM, half the crew was chipping off bad joints. The boss brought in a big shade tarp and switched us to a slower mix, and the afternoon went smooth. Has anyone else had a mix fail on them like that in hot weather?

I laid 1,200 bricks in a single day on a foundation job in Toledo last month, which was a personal record I didn't think I could hit.

It mattered because it showed me that using a laser level to set my line pins instead of a string line saved me about 30 minutes of setup time per wall, letting me focus on laying instead of fussing with alignment.

A talk with my neighbor made me question the 'one mix for everything' rule

He's a retired mason from upstate New York, and he saw me using the same mortar for a garden wall and a chimney repair. He said, 'You know, back in the day, we'd tweak the lime content for every single job, even if it was just a bag.' It hit different because he wasn't just talking specs, he was talking about the feel of the work. I've been so stuck on the convenience of a pre-blended bag. Has anyone else gone back to making small custom batches for different projects?

Hot take: The new guy on my crew in Phoenix decided to 'speed things up' by mixing the entire mortar bag at once.

We were on a backyard wall job last Tuesday, and he dumped a full 80-pound bag into the mixer without asking. It was over 90 degrees, and by the time we got halfway through laying the first course, the mix was already starting to set up like concrete. I had to stop everything, scrape out the mixer, and we lost about an hour and a half of good morning light. Anyone else had to deal with a rookie mistake that cost you a big chunk of a day?

Had a seagull steal a whole brick from a chimney stack in Brighton.

We were finishing a repair on a roof near the pier, and this bird just swooped down, grabbed a fresh facing brick right off the mortar board, and flew off with it. Now I always keep a tarp over the spares when working near the coast. Anyone else deal with wildlife messing with their materials?

Showerthought: I just hit 10,000 bricks laid this month and it felt different

Always thought counting was for bean counters, but seeing that number on my app made me realize how much more we move than I ever guessed. Anyone else track their daily brick count and find it changes how you pace a job?

Talked to a guy on a job in Omaha about his mortar mix

He said he adds a cup of dish soap to every five gallons of his mix. I thought he was nuts, but he swore it makes the mortar stick better and work smoother. He said he's been doing it for 15 years on all his brickwork. I tried it on a small garden wall last week and honestly, the stuff was way easier to spread. Has anyone else heard of this trick, or is it just an old local thing?

Had a bad mortar mix on a chimney job in Cleveland last fall

I was repointing a chimney and the new mortar I mixed up was way too wet. It started slumping out of the joints before I could even finish the section. I had to stop, scrape it all out, and remix the whole batch with more sand and less water. It set me back about three hours. Has anyone else had a batch just not feel right and how did you fix it?

I always thought a 3/8 inch joint was fine for everything, but a job in Phoenix changed my mind.

We were building a big garden wall and I was using my usual 3/8 inch joint. My foreman, a guy named Ray, told me to switch to a 1/2 inch for the whole thing. I thought it would look sloppy, but with the heat out there, the bigger joint handled the expansion way better. After a year, my old walls would have cracks, but this one is still solid. Anyone else run into this with different climates?

A homeowner in Denver told me my brickwork was 'rustic'

I was finishing a herringbone patio for this guy, laying every brick tight and level. He came out, looked at it for a minute, and said, 'I like the rustic look, it's got character.' I was confused because the lines were straight and the joints were clean. Turns out, he thought the natural color variation in the clay bricks was a mistake. Has anyone else had a client mistake quality materials for sloppy work?

The week we had to tear down a chimney twice in the same house

We were working on a 1920s house in Cincinnati, rebuilding a brick chimney that had major cracks. The first rebuild looked perfect, but the homeowner pointed out the new brick color was a shade off from the original. We had to pull down the whole thing, about 800 bricks, and start over after finding the right match. Has anyone else had a client notice a tiny color difference you missed?

My brother-in-law said something about my pointing that stuck with me

He's a carpenter, not a mason, but he watched me repoint a chimney in his backyard. He said, 'You move like you're fighting the mortar, not working with it.' I've been laying brick for fifteen years and always thought speed was the main thing. That one comment made me slow down and really feel the mix, and the joints look better than they have in months. Anyone else have a non-bricklayer give them a tip that actually worked?