My uncle told me to always soak my bricks in Phoenix, and he was right

He said, 'Pat, if you don't wet them down in this heat, the mortar will cure too fast and you'll get a weak bond.' I was working on a garden wall last July and decided to test it on one section. The bricks I soaked laid up perfectly, but the dry ones sucked the moisture right out of the mix and the joints crumbled after a week. Has anyone else found a specific trick that works in your local climate?

3 comments

3 Comments

carter.mila8d agoMost Upvoted

But honestly, I've always used dry bricks here and never had a single issue.

the_sean8d ago

What about the bricks themselves though, are they all the same? I had a job once where some bricks were super porous and others were basically sealed from the factory. The dry ones sucked all the moisture out of the mortar before it could set right. Maybe you've just gotten lucky with the brick batches you've used.

miller.thomas8d ago

Hold up, that's wild to me. I've laid brick in dry Vegas heat for years and never soaked a single one. You just mix your mortar a little wetter, it's not rocket science. Soaking bricks is a messy, extra step that can actually cause more problems if they're too wet when you lay them. Maybe your uncle's method was for a specific, really bad mortar mix.