My old boss Sal said to always soak bricks in July, and he was right
Back in 2011 I was laying a wall in Fresno during a heat wave and Sal, who ran the crew for 20 years, made us dunk every brick in a water barrel before setting it. I thought it was a waste of time and slowed us down, but the mortar set up way too fast on the dry ones and those joints crumbled a few months later. The soaked bricks held fine, and I still do it when it gets past 95 degrees. Anyone here got a rule from an old timer that sounded dumb but turned out solid?