A guy came into my shop last month with a photo of a retaining wall his dad built back in 2003 that was starting to bulge out. He wanted me to just patch it up instead of tearing it down and starting over. Has anyone else had to explain to a customer that old brickwork sometimes needs a full rebuild to be safe?
I was dead set against using that rapid-set stuff for years, figured it was too expensive and finicky. Last week on a job in Buffalo when the temp dropped to 38 degrees, it set up solid in under an hour while my regular mix was still soup. Anyone else had a product they were sure was gimmicky but ended up saving them?
I was working on a repointing job last month on an old house built in 1948. The owner wanted me to match the original mortar, so I started doing some research. I found out that bricks made before the 1950s are often fired at lower temperatures and have a higher absorption rate. One source I found from the National Brick Research Center said old red bricks can absorb up to 20% of their weight in water. That blew my mind because modern bricks are usually under 10%. I had to switch to a lime-based mortar so the brick wouldn't crack under pressure. Has anyone else run into this problem with older homes? What mortar mix did you end up using?
I was on a crew laying a big curved arch for a new bank lobby downtown last Tuesday and my left forearm just gave out halfway through the third course. My lead guy pulled me aside and showed me how to switch to a smaller pointing trowel for the tight curves and it saved my whole afternoon. Has anyone else had to change their tool size mid-job just to keep the joints clean?
I always thought jointers were just for looks and not worth the extra time, but after I tried one on a retaining wall last month the difference was night and day... the lines came out so clean and even compared to my old thumb jointing method. What made you switch up your process on something you thought you had figured out?
Honestly, I was working a residential job in Omaha last spring and this guy maybe 70 years old walks over from the next lot. He watched me lay a course for maybe 30 seconds then said 'you're buttering too thick on the head joint, son.' He showed me how to cut the excess off with a quick trowel flick and it saved me like an hour of cleanup per wall. Ngl, I still think about that advice every time I set a brick. Anyone else have a random pro drop some simple tip that stuck with you?
Was at the Galleria mall in Houston last weekend with my wife and stopped to stare at this brick wall... turns out it's just painted foam. Someone went through all that trouble to make it look real but didn't even match the mortar lines right. I stood there for like 5 minutes pointing out the flaws to my wife, she was not impressed. Has anyone else spotted fake brickwork that just makes you cringe?
Been working on a retaining wall out in the sun here in Austin and the mortar was setting up way too quick. I tried wetting the bricks down with a spray bottle but that just made things messy. Then an old timer told me to mix in a little bit of hydrated lime with my cement and sand. Did that last week on a 95 degree day and I had way more working time. Has anyone else tried this trick or do you just throw a tarp over everything and call it a day?
I was on a row home renovation in Philly last March and this mason with 40 years in the trade watched me scrubbing new brick with muriatic acid. He pulled me aside and said 'you're gonna ruin that brick in 5 years, use a mild soap and a soft brush instead.' I laughed it off at first but he showed me a wall he did in 1992 that still looked fresh. Now I'm starting to think the aggressive chemical approach is a shortcut that costs clients down the road. Any of you guys had luck with gentler cleaning methods on older brick?
I learned bricklaying from my uncle back in 2003 outside of Charlotte, and he always had me butter each brick by hand with a trowel. These days most guys on my crew just lay a fat string of mortar and push the bricks into it, but I still catch myself picking up each one and doing it the old way. That habit saved me on a job last month where the mortar got a bit stiff from the heat and the new method left gaps. Anyone else stick with the hand buttering or am I just stubborn?
Used to just butter the head joints by eye and hope they lined up. After a helper messed up a garage archway last fall I started marking every brick with a chalk line and dry laying first. Has anyone else switched to dry laying arches and seen fewer gaps?
I used to just grab the cheapest blade at the supply house, figured a blade is a blade right. Then I had to cut through some really hard old brick on a church restoration downtown and burned through three cheap blades in one morning. My foreman handed me his diamond blade and told me to shut up and try it. That one blade lasted the whole rest of the week and cut cleaner too. Now I spend the extra $40 and don't look back. Anyone else have a tool they were dead wrong about?
I bought those magnetic corner levels everyone raves about and after six jobs I went back to my $30 aluminum box level because the magnets kept pulling my alignment off and the extra cost wasn't worth the hassle, has anyone else found high end level gear to be more trouble than it's worth?
I was working on a row of townhouses over near Maple Street and my mortar kept slumping bad. Turns out the sand was damp from sitting out overnight and I didn't adjust the water. Had to rip out 12 bricks and start that section fresh. Any of you guys check your sand moisture before mixing?
I've been working on a 4 story building in downtown Portland since February, and yesterday I hit 10,000 bricks laid just on this one job. It kind of surprised me because I never keep count usually, but my foreman mentioned it when we were unloading the last pallet. Has anyone else hit a number like that and felt a little proud of the grind?
Had a retaining wall project out near where the old drive-in used to be just south of town. The curve radius was something like 12 feet and I thought I'd knock it out in a week. Took me almost 3 months because the soil kept shifting every time I got more than 4 feet high. Anyone else run into ground movement that just messes up your layout?
Was working on a retaining wall in Austin last month. Looked good going up. Then day 4, a whole section just crumbled. Like sand. Not mortar. Checked my bags, grabbed the wrong type at the supply yard. Got Type N when I needed Type S for that heavy load. Lost a full Saturday tearing it down. My foreman walked over, looked at the pile, just shook his head. Said nothing. That hurt more than yelling. Now I double check every pallet before mixing. Anyone else ever grab the wrong mortar type and pay for it big time?
I was laying brick on a garden wall last week and kept fighting with the level. Every course looked fine until I stepped back and saw the whole thing was leaning left just a little. Turns out my foundation was off by about a quarter inch over 10 feet. I spent the whole afternoon chiseling out mortar and shimming instead of just knocking it down and starting fresh. Has anyone else burned a whole day on a mistake that small?
I tried switching from a 3:1 sand-to-cement ratio to 3.5:1 for a retaining wall in Denver last week and it held up way better through the drying process. Has anyone else tinkered with their ratios depending on the weather?
The margin trowel kept bending the corners on my bricks near the foundation on this job in Tulsa, but the pointing trowel fits right in and saves me about 15 minutes per wall, has anyone else made the switch?
I was tearing down an old garage near Division Street last Tuesday and found bricks from the 1920s with a weird zigzag pattern pressed into them. Turns out they were made by a local company that went under in the Depression. Anyone ever run across old marked bricks like that on a demo job?
I've been watching new guys on sites around Nashville for the last few years and nearly every one of them builds their leads way too high before filling in. You only need 3 or 4 courses up before you start laying the rest, otherwise your corner gets wobbly and you fight to fix it later. Saw a crew lose a whole morning because their lead was 8 bricks tall and had shifted half an inch. Anybody else notice this slowing down the whole job?
Last month I had a retaining wall job in Columbus that just fell apart. The client wanted this herringbone pattern on a curved wall, which I warned them was tricky. Midway through Friday afternoon, the whole west section buckled because the base wasn't compacted right from a rain the night before. Had to tear out about 15 feet and redo it by sundown. Has anyone else dealt with clients who push for fancy patterns on bad soil?
Been using the same wood handled trowel for about 8 years. Got a bad case of tendonitis in my right elbow last spring. A older guy on a job in Denver let me try his Marshalltown fiberglass handle for a day. The vibration difference was night and day. My elbow stopped throbbing after a week. Anyone else made that switch and noticed a difference?