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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?
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victor6515mo ago
Man, that "turning to concrete in the bucket" thing @andrew_shah said is too real. I used to think all mortar was basically the same until a hot day last summer. We mixed a bag for a small repair, and it went hard in like 15 minutes. Had to chisel the whole thing out and start over. Now I always check the bag for the temp range and keep stuff in the shade. That one mess taught me to respect the mix.
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grantc805mo ago
Scrap a whole pallet of brick" is the worst. Heard a guy on a jobsite radio show say adding a little extra water on a hot day just makes it weaker, not slower. You gotta mix smaller batches and keep everything cool.
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corap613mo ago
You said "scrap a whole pallet of brick" and my stomach just dropped. I've been there and it's one of those things that sticks with you, makes you double-check every batch now. And what @victor651 said about checking the bag for temp range is exactly right - I've started doing that too after a similar mess. The heat really plays tricks on you, makes you think a splash more water will help but it just ruins the whole mix. It's a hard lesson to learn but once you've had to chisel out a whole bucket of concrete, you never forget it.
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andrew_shah5mo ago
Yeah, that fast-setting mix is brutal. We had a supplier send us the wrong type in July once, and it was basically turning to concrete in the bucket before we could even get it on the trowel. Had to scrap a whole pallet of brick because we couldn't clean the joints in time.
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