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Pro tip: my foreman in Dallas told me to stop soaking bricks in summer, and my wall came out weaker
Back in July 2021 I was on a job in Dallas laying a 40 foot garden wall, and my foreman Ron told me to skip soaking the bricks because the heat would dry them fast anyway. I did what he said for the first 12 courses, and the mortar kept sucking dry before I could even tap the brick level. By day three I had hairline cracks showing up near the joints, and the inspector flagged six spots where the bond looked bad. I switched back to a quick dunk in a tub, and the rest of the wall set up clean with no cracks. Ron has been laying brick for 22 years, so I figured he knew something I did not. So who is right here, does soaking matter that much in 100 degree weather, or was my foreman onto something and I just mixed my mortar too wet?
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wood.zara4d ago
Water pulls heat out of the brick way faster than air does, so even a ten second dunk cools the surface and slows the mortar from flashing. That heat of hydration thing works both ways too, mortar cured too fast never gets its full strength.
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