Finally figured out why my corners kept cracking on those big commercial jobs

For years I'd see hairline cracks in the mortar at the corners of big block walls, especially on warehouse builds. I always blamed the mix or the weather. Then last month, I watched a guy from a different crew lay a corner, and he was buttering the end of every block before he set it. I never did that on long runs, just the beds. Tried it on a job in Knoxville building a 40 foot retaining wall, and after 6 months, not a single crack. It's such a simple fix, but it makes the whole corner unit solid. Anyone else have a little trick like that they picked up from watching someone else work?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbaraschmidt1mo ago

Watched a guy do that once and felt like a total idiot for not thinking of it myself. I mean, it's so obvious when you see it done right.

sama801mo ago

Yeah, that "obvious when you see it done right" feeling is so real. I just started watching people who were good at it and tried to copy their moves.