c/bricklayers

Tried a trowel with a bigger handle and it actually helped my wrist pain

Been laying brick for about 12 years now and my right wrist has been killing me the last few months. I was using a standard Marshalltown with the skinny wooden handle. A older guy on a job site in Columbus let me borrow his with a fat rubber grip handle. Night and day difference after just one day. My hand didnt cramp up at 3pm and I actually finished my wall without ice packs. Has anyone else switched handle styles and noticed a big change?

Question about mixing mortar for hot weather

I was talking to an old mason named Pete over at the supply yard in Phoenix last month. He told me that when it hits 100 degrees, you gotta use ice water in your mix or the mortar sets up way too fast and loses its bond strength. I always just added more water when it got hot, but he said that just makes it weak and crumbly after a few years. I tried his method on a retaining wall job last week and the stuff stayed workable almost twice as long. Made me think about how many little tricks I probably skipped over the past 12 years. Anyone else got a heat trick for mixing that actually works?

My mortar mix went wrong on a job in Austin last summer and I still stand by my ratios

Had an older mason show me a tuckpointing trick last Tuesday that saved me 3 hours on a chimney job

I was working on a 1920s brick chimney in Brookline and a retired mason named Pete walked by. He stopped and watched me struggle with the mortar joints for a minute. Then he reached into my bucket, wet his trowel, and packed the mortar in at a 45 degree angle instead of straight on. He said "the joint wants to grab it, not fight it." I tried his way on the next row and it went in twice as fast with no voids. Has anyone else picked up a technique like that from someone who just happened to walk past their job site?

Took me 5 hours to figure out a simple corner pattern

I was laying a herringbone pattern on a corner wall last week and kept messing up the cuts. I thought I had it mapped out in my head but after 3 tries I still had gaps. Turns out my layout line was off by a quarter inch from the start. Has anyone else spent way too long on something that should have been straightforward?

Saw a wall I pointed up 10 years ago and changed my mind about lime mortar

I drove past a job I did in 2014 near downtown Portland last week, a brick retaining wall for a church. I had used a standard Portland cement mix back then because I thought it was stronger, and the brick faces are spalling off all along the top course. Now I finally get why the old timers push lime mortar for historic work, it lets the wall breathe and the bricks stay solid. Anyone else have an early job that made you rethink your whole approach?

Hit 50,000 bricks laid last Friday and it messed with my head

Been doing this 12 years now. Never counted until I switched to a crew that tracks everyone's output. 50,000 is a weird number. Not a million, not a rookie. Just sitting in the middle. Does anyone else track their lifetime count or am I overthinking this?

That $700 mixer I bought for mortar last year was a total scam

I dropped $700 on a fancy electric mortar mixer thinking it would save my back on big jobs, but the gearbox seized up after just 3 weeks of use on standard Type S. The company ghosted me when I tried to warranty it, so now I'm stuck with a heavy paperweight in my shed. Anyone else had luck with a specific brand that actually holds up to daily abuse?

Spent 4 hours trying to level a wall that was off by half a bubble

I was working on a garden wall in Toledo last Tuesday and the first course looked fine until I checked the level on the third row. Turns out the base was shifted by about 3/8 inch from a root I missed, and I had to pull everything back down to fix it. Anyone else ever have a small mistake snowball into a whole afternoon of rework?

Old school pointing vs. using a mortar gun now

I learned bricklaying from my uncle back in the 80s and he swore by hand pointing with a slicker. Took forever but he said it was the only way to get a clean finish. Last year I finally tried a mortar gun on a retaining wall job in Akron and finished the pointing in half the time. The joints came out fine, but something feels off about it. Any of you old timers made the switch, or do you still do it by hand?

Mortar mix failed on a 50 foot garden wall last Tuesday, had to tear out 3 whole courses

I was so frustrated. The mix looked fine when I was laying it but by the end of the day it was crumbly and just falling apart. Turns out the sand I grabbed from the back of the yard had too much silt in it. I should have checked but I was rushing. Had to chisel out all that work and start fresh with clean sand. Has anyone else had a bad batch of sand wreck a job like that?

Put a fresh blade in my saw and got a chipped edge on the first cut in Des Moines

I swapped to a brand new 10 inch dry cut blade from DeWalt last Monday. First cut on a firebrick, it chipped a corner right off. Turns out the arbor was a little loose even though I tightened it by hand. Has anyone else had issues with new blades not seating right on the first go?

Overheard two guys arguing about mortar mix ratios on a jobsite last week

I was working on a retaining wall downtown and these two bricklayers got into it about using too much lime in the mix. One guy swore by 3 parts sand to 1 part cement with a pinch of lime, the other said lime makes it weak over time and causes efflorescence. I just kept laying brick and listening, you know? It got me thinking how everyone has their own little tricks passed down from whoever taught them. I've always used a 4 to 1 mix with no lime for outdoor stuff and never had issues myself. Has anyone here actually seen a job fail because of too much lime or is that just an old wives tale?

I used to think mortar mix ratios were overhyped until a wall failed on me

For years I just eyeballed my sand to cement ratio, figured close enough was fine. Last fall I did a garden wall for a lady in Oak Park and three months later the mortar was crumbling out. I went back, looked at my mix, and realized I was way too heavy on the sand. Now I actually measure every batch with a bucket, and I have not had a joint crack since. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way or am I the only dummy who thought it did not matter?

Old timer told me my mud was too wet and I fought it for years

Dude at a job site in Columbus back in 2018 watched me struggling with a wall and said 'son your muds wetter than a ditch'. I got pissed at first but he was dead on. I was adding water to make it go faster but just making a mess. Started mixing dryer and my work leveled up big time. Anyone else have to eat crow on some old school advice?

Vent: Took me 8 years to figure out my buttering technique was trash

I always buttered my bricks laying the mortar thick on one end and thin on the other. Thought that was just how you did it. Then last month on a job in Des Moines this old mason watched me for about 5 minutes and said my joints would never last through a freeze cycle. He showed me how to butter the whole face evenly with a sweep motion using my trowel tip. Took me maybe 10 tries to get it smooth. Now my lines are way cleaner and I'm not wasting mortar. Anyone else have an old-timer call them out on something basic like this?

Warning: That mortar mix at the Home Depot in Spokane almost cost me a wall

I grabbed a pallet of their store brand type S mortar last month for a retaining wall job. After three days of curing, I noticed hairline cracks in the joints that just kept spreading. Turns out the batch had way too much air entrainment for structural work, at least according to the supplier I called. Has anyone else run into bad mixes from big box stores, or did I just get unlucky with that one load?

Talked to an old timer in Detroit last week who made me rethink my whole mortar mix method

I was on a job site in Detroit rebuilding this old storefront, and this bricklayer who's been at it since the 70s watched me mix my batch. He said I was adding too much water and it was making my joints weak, and he showed me how to do it dryer with a little more lime. Now my bonds hold way better, and I'm wondering how many other little things I'm doing wrong. Anyone else get schooled by someone older and find out you been doing it wrong for years?

Swapped a 3/8 trowel for a 1/2 inch on a fireplace job

I was doing that stone veneer fireplace last week and kept getting bad coverage with my old 3/8 notch trowel. Wasted a good hour before a buddy stopped by and told me to step up to a 1/2 inch square notch. The difference was night and day. Has anyone else had to switch trowel sizes mid-job because the material just wasn't grabbing right?

Saw a brick arch at an old train station in Ohio that caught my eye

I was passing through the Cleveland Union Terminal last week and noticed this brick arch they had over a doorway. The way the bricks were laid looked like they were holding the whole thing up without any steel. I stopped and stared at it for a good 10 minutes. Has anyone here ever worked on a structure that old and can tell me how they kept those arches solid for over 80 years?

Had a chat with my grandpa about brick laying and he said something that really stuck with me

He told me that the best bricks I'll ever lay are the ones I'm not afraid to take apart the next day. I've been overthinking my mortar joints for two years and that one line just made me relax.

That 60-second mortar test changed my mind about pre-wetting bricks

I was always a dry-lay guy. Thought pre-wetting was a waste of time. Then I watched a video from a old school mason in Boston. He soaked a brick for 60 seconds and weighed it before and after. That single brick absorbed nearly a pound of water. That's water that would have sucked right out of my mortar. I tried it on my next job, a small retaining wall in my backyard. The mortar stayed workable way longer. No more hairline cracks from flash drying. Has anyone else done the weight test on their local brick?

That one foreman's comment about my mortar mix still sticks with me

I used to mix my mortar a little wetter than most guys because I thought it was easier to spread. Then a foreman on a job in Austin last summer pulled me aside and said it was making my joints weak and spongy. He showed me how the bricks would shift under pressure if I left it too loose. After he timed me, I was actually losing about 15 minutes per wall from having to clean up the drips anyway. So I switched to a stiffer mix with a little less water and my work held up way better through the freeze last winter. Has anyone else had an old timer correct their mortar consistency in a way that stuck?

That job on Elm Street back in '09 still sticks with me

I was working on a retaining wall out in Elm Street, middle of August, just sweating buckets. The homeowner insisted on using this old reclaimed brick that was all different sizes, none of them true. I spent three days fighting with them, trying to keep the courses level, and finally just told the guy I'd have to charge double if he wanted it straight. It taught me to never take a job without seeing the material first. Anybody else had a client bring in a pile of junk brick and expect a perfect wall?

My uncle swore by using a 3/8 inch joint for everything, even in the winter.

He told me last November in Chicago that a tighter joint would hold up better in the freeze-thaw cycle. I did a whole garage foundation his way, and by spring, half the joints had spalled. Had to go back and re-point the whole thing. Anyone else get burned by 'one size fits all' advice when the weather changes?