Honestly, I always split my frogs clean down the middle for setting corners. Felt like it gave me better control. Then a mason in Austin told me to just score the back and snap them, keep the face intact. Tried it on a fireplace last Tuesday and it saved me like 20 minutes of cleanup. Anyone else ever ditch a habit that just made more work?
Been laying for about 8 years. Always thought wetting bricks was some old wives tale. Picked up a job repointing a 1920s wall in Nashville. Sun was beating down. Mortar kept drying out too fast on me. Got frustrated and grabbed the hose. Soaked the whole pallet. Total game changer. The mortar stayed workable way longer. Less waste too. Has anyone else fought the urge to skip this? Worth the extra step every time?
Homeowner wanted me to patch a small section of a 1950s brick wall. I mixed five different batches and none of them looked right in the sunlight. Finally just went with the closest one and told them it would fade in a few months. Has anyone else struggled matching old mortar? What did you do?
Figured out my sand was too wet after a rainstorm last Tuesday, so I started keeping it covered and bagged it in 5 gallon buckets, and my joints stopped cracking, anyone else have moisture issues with stored sand?
Two weeks ago I followed the standard 3:1 sand to cement mix that gets recommended around here all the time. Laid about 40 feet of retaining wall in my own backyard with it. Three days later I noticed cracks forming at the base joints where the wall meets the footing. Turns out that ratio is fine for above ground work but not when there's any hydrostatic pressure behind it. I ended up tearing out 12 feet of that section and switching to a 2.5:1 mix with some lime added. Has anyone else run into this or am I the only one who trusts the old timers too much?
I keep seeing guys at my local supply yard in Cleveland hosing down face brick the second it's laid, then wondering why their joints crack a week later. How many of you actually wait the full 24 hours before doing any cleanup on a wall?
Always mixed my mortar wetter than most guys because I thought it laid easier. Then I did a retaining wall job for a guy named Jim in Lancaster and he pointed out my joints were sinking after 20 minutes. He made me mix it stiff and I realized I'd been hiding bad technique with wet mud the whole time. Any of you guys ever get called out on a habit you swore was right?
I was working on a house in Dayton and the inspector pointed out I had my brick ties every 24 inches instead of every 16. He said it was a common mistake with newer guys and showed me how the wall could buckle over time if the ties aren't close enough together. I spent the next afternoon redoing a whole section I had already laid up. Has anyone else had an inspector catch something small that saved you from a bigger problem down the road?
I was working on a small retaining wall for a guy in northeast Philly back in July. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and the mortar set up just right every time I laid a brick. I finished the whole 40 foot wall in one day, which is way faster than I normally go. The homeowner came out and said he couldn't believe how straight it looked without any weird gaps. Made me feel good about my work and reminded me why I like this trade. Anybody else have a day where everything just clicked like that?
Last month I grabbed a new diamond blade for my bridge saw from a supply house near me. Guy swore it was the best for hard brick, and it cut great for the first 8 feet or so. By the second morning it was throwing sparks and barely chewing through anything. I should have known better than to skip the brand I usually get, live and learn I guess. Anyone else had a blade go bad way too fast like that?
I walked past a job last month on Beacon Street where they were repointing a 150 year old brick church. The mason was slapping on mortar joints thicker than my thumb. Everybody says you need a fat joint for old soft brick but that stuff was like 3/4 of an inch. I've worked with salvaged brick from the 1800s before and 3/8 is PLENTY if you mix the mortar right. That much extra just traps water and will blow the face off in a few winters. Who else has seen old timers overdo it on historic work?
Saw a crew downtown last week slopping it on like peanut butter on a sandwich. I told the foreman if he cut back by half an inch per joint he'd save 15% on mix every job. Has anyone else noticed new guys just piling it on instead of using the furrow technique?
I just finished a retaining wall job out in Austin where I used Flemish bond and the engineer said the tie-ins held up way better than the English bond I used on a similar job last spring, so has anyone else noticed this or am I just lucky?
After 12 years of fighting with string lines that sag or shift, I tried clamping a 4-foot level across my last wall in Phoenix and it kept every course dead straight, so has anyone else ditched the string for a long level on bigger jobs?
I was working on a retaining wall job in Lorain, Ohio about 4 years ago, and this guy in his 70s walks up and watches me for 10 minutes. He said I was wasting time making every single row perfectly level when the ground itself wasn't flat. He pointed out that a slightly sloped top course looks way better than having a 2 inch gap at the bottom on one end... now I think about that every time I lay block. Has anyone else had a old pro give you advice that totally went against what you learned in school?
I was at a supply house up near Albany last Thursday just grabbing some lime and I got to talking with this old timer who was loading up his truck. He took one look at my trowel hanging out of my bag and asked me how long I had been using a 10 incher for face work. I told him since I started and he just laughed and said no wonder my joints looked a little sloppy when I had to stretch out. He explained that for standard modular brick you really want an 11 inch trowel so you can butter enough mud in one smooth swipe without dipping twice. I always thought a bigger trowel just meant more wrist strain but he showed me his setup and it made sense. I picked up an 11 inch Marshalltown on the spot and I swear my first row this morning went down cleaner than any wall I have built in years. Has anyone else been using the wrong tool for years without realizing it?
I went to Apex Brick Supply last week because everyone on here says they have the best prices. But I spent 45 minutes getting there and their selection of common reds was terrible. They only had a few pallets of the standard 4 inch modulars and the color was way off. Am I the only one who thinks sticking with your local yard beats driving across town for hype?
I always figured a jointer was just extra gear taking up space. Been laying brick for 12 years, mostly residential jobs around Cleveland. Last month I took on a retaining wall job where the old stone was all uneven, and a buddy loaned me his jointer to knock the high spots down. After 3 tries I was getting clean flat faces in under 2 minutes each, and the whole wall went up way tighter than my hammer and chisel work. Anyone else here stubborn about a tool for too long then switch?
Was working on a house in Cleveland last spring and kept having my brick ties pop out of the mortar. Spent an extra hour on each wall trying to get them to hold. My foreman watched me for about 5 minutes, walked over, and said "you're bending them the wrong way man." Turns out I had the crimp facing down instead of up the whole time. Anyone else have a basic move they did backwards for way too long?
Last fall I got lazy and picked up a pallet of that store brand mortar mix for $4 a bag instead of my usual brand. Mixed it up and it looked fine but after 3 days the joints were crumbling like old sand. Had to tear out 12 feet of wall and redo it with the good stuff, cost me an extra 6 hours of labor. Any of you guys had a mix that just didn't hold up?
I'm a bricklayer in Nashville and we had three straight weeks of rain back in April. Usually I don't mind a little wet weather but this was something else. Every morning I'd show up to the jobsite and the sand pile was soaked through. The mortar kept slumping on me and I had to mix it way stiffer than I like just to get it to hold. Lost half a day on a retaining wall when the foundation trench filled up with water. By the end of the second week I was second-guessing every joint I laid and my helper was calling out sick from the cold. The job that should have taken two weeks stretched into almost five and we ended up pouring concrete in a drizzle just to get it done. Has anyone else had a run of bad weather that just threw your whole rhythm off?
I been keeping count in a little notebook for years, nothing official. But I added it up at lunch today and realized I passed 10,000 bricks just on this one project. That number surprised me because I never thought of my work in totals like that. It made me think about all the walls I've built and never really looked back at. Has anyone else ever tracked a specific milestone like that on a job?
After he pointed out my wall was getting that washed out look on a job in Cleveland last fall I started going drier and the next two walls came out perfect, has anybody else had to unlearn what they taught you in school about mix consistency?
I was picking up a pallet of red commons this morning at the yard in Denver and this old bricklayer was telling his helper that the bricks 'sing' when you tap them with a trowel if they have the right moisture. He said dry ones sound dead and wet ones sound thuddy, so listen for that ring. Anyone else pay attention to the sound of their bricks before laying them?
He's been laying brick for forty years in Philly and told me to stick with a 3/8 inch joint for the mortar on a small residential job last fall. I thought a half inch would be fine and faster. The wall looked okay, but after the winter freeze, I had three bricks pop right out. He just shook his head when I showed him. What's the thickest joint you'll use on an exterior wall in a cold climate?