Visited a job site in rural Kentucky and noticed every mason there was spreading mud differently than what I was taught back in Cleveland

The old timers there were buttering the brick vertical face first before setting it, but I always put the mud on the horizontal bed joint and then butter the head joint, so which way actually gives you a stronger wall and less cleanup?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew6933h ago

Wait, you saw that too? I had the exact same thing happen on a job down in Tennessee a few years back. The crew there would butter the vertical face of every brick like it was a sandwich before laying it, and I'm so used to just slapping mud on the bed joint and doing a quick head joint dab. But I gotta say, after watching them do it their way for a day, the wall came out real clean with almost no squeeze out to clean up, and the joints were packed tight. I never tested it for strength, but it sure felt solid as a rock.

brooke_nguyen653m ago

I mean, that 'buttering the vertical face first' trick makes me feel like I've been doing it wrong my whole life, which honestly isn't hard to believe. @andrew693, you're spot on about the cleanup being way better with their method, I'd probably just end up with more mud on my shirt either way. Maybe it's just me but a wall that's solid as a rock sounds like a win no matter how you butter the bread.