I was working a wall in a backyard in Denver and this guy with 30 years in walks up and says I gotta add some slight variation because perfect joints look unnatural on old homes. So I started eyeballing instead of measuring every damn brick and the wall actually looked better when we were done. Any of you guys get told to mess up your work on purpose just to match the style of the building?
Idk I always prided myself on being the fastest guy on the crew. Last month we had this slab pour scheduled for Friday and I was pushing hard to get the block laid by Wednesday. My foreman kept telling me to slow down and check my levels but I just waved him off. Well I got to Thursday morning and realized the whole back wall was off by almost half an inch over 20 feet. Had to tear out two full courses and relay them which put us behind schedule anyways. The thing that really got me was watching this older guy named Carlos do his section slow and steady and it came out perfect on the first try. Now I set a brick tube timer for every 10 feet and check my string line before I even tap the next brick down. Has anyone else had to learn this lesson the hard way or am I just stubborn?
Used to always mix up mud and tape inside corners by hand took forever. Tried those pre-formed metal corner beads on a job in Akron last spring and cut my time by half. Anyone else made the swap and not looked back?
After 8 hours on a commercial wall in Phoenix last summer, my forearm was cramping so bad I couldn't grip my trowel right. I swapped to a rubber-handled Marshalltown mid-job and the vibration dampening saved my wrist for the rest of the week. Anyone else made this switch and noticed a real difference on big pours or am I just getting old?
I used to swear by my old 11 inch Marshalltown trowel for everything. Took me years to get the handle right and the balance perfect. But about 6 months ago I tried a W.O. Larsen speed trowel at a job in Austin and now I'm torn. The speed trowel lays mud faster but I feel like my joints aren't as clean as they used to be. Anyone else made the switch and stuck with it or went back to the old way?
I hit 10,000 bricks laid on a job site in Austin and thought I'd feel like a pro, but it was just another hot day with sore fingers. Anyone else hit a big number and feel nothing?
Turns out the foundation was off by half an inch from the start. Ever had a wall fight you this bad?
Last Monday I laid about 60 bricks on a garden wall before I realized the sand I grabbed was way too fine. The mortar was crumbling by Tuesday morning and I had to rip the whole thing down. I got the sand from a local yard in Portland and it looked fine in the bag but it just didn't hold. Has anyone else had a batch of mortar go bad because of bad sand or a bad batch of cement?
I was butterflying every corner joint on my brick jobs, thinking it was the right way to hide the seam. Then a mason with 40 years in Portland stopped by my site and pointed out I was actually creating weak spots that'd crack in freezing weather. He showed me a simple trowel-and-tuck method that cut my time by half and looks cleaner. Has anyone else had an old-school guy catch a bad habit you thought was standard?
I was on a job in Philly last summer and this veteran mason named Frankie just straight up told me I was wasting time checking my level every 3 rows. He said to trust my eye more and only use the level every 5 or 6 courses, then make tiny adjustments with the mud. Changed my whole rhythm honestly, I was probably spending an extra 20 minutes per wall being paranoid. Anyone else get a piece of advice from an older guy that totally flipped their process?
I was on a job site in Tulsa last Tuesday helping pour footings for a retaining wall. A retired mason walked by and saw me mixing a batch on the dry side. He told me to add more water and let it sit for 5 minutes before using it. Said he learned that trick in 1976 and never went back. I tried it on the next batch and the bricks laid way smoother, almost half the time. Has anyone else heard of this or am I just late to the party?
It was a Marshalltown handle too, the kind I've used for a decade, but it just snapped at the tang during a hot day repointing an old limestone wall. Has anyone else had issues with the newer handles cracking like that, or did I just get a bad batch?
I grabbed a pallet of that pre-blended stuff from the big orange store last week and my joints were crumbling by day two. Anyone else stick with just sand and cement no matter what the sales rep pushes?
I always used butter or margarine to keep mortar from sticking to my tools on site. It worked fine but left a greasy mess on everything. Last week a older mason in Dallas told me to try lime instead. Just a little bit smeared on the trowel before the mix goes on. It keeps the mortar from bonding way better and you just rinse it off with water at the end of the day. Has anyone else tried something weird that actually worked better than the standard stuff?
I took a job building a garden wall in Portland and the homeowner wanted a curved section. Figured it would be a bit slower but nothing crazy. Cut my first brick wrong, then had to redo the mortar mix twice because it was too stiff for the curve. By the time I finished that little 4-foot stretch I was ready to throw my trowel. Has anyone found a good trick for keeping consistent gaps on a tight radius? My joints ended up looking like trash.
I used to just buy the bagged premix from Home Depot for years on residential jobs. Then I got a big commercial patio job 6 months ago where we had to match the existing grout color exactly. The premix colors were all off so I had to start mixing portland, sand, and lime myself. Frankly I will never go back. The working time is way better when I mix it fresh on site and I can dial in the consistency for whatever brick I'm laying. For that patio we laid 800 sq ft in 4 days and had zero cracking compared to the last premix job where I had hairline cracks showing up after 2 weeks. If you are doing a big job have you guys ever bothered with mixing your own or is premix still the standard?
Found out from an old estimator's spreadsheet that a standard 2,000 square foot brick home wastes around 15% of the mortar mix just from cleanup and overmixing, which is roughly $400 down the drain per project, and I'm wondering how many guys actually track that loss or just write it off.
He showed me his technique for spot bedding and I cut my time on a garden wall by almost 40 minutes last Saturday, has anyone else been doing it the slow way forever?
Been doing this 22 years and I see everyone using laser levels now, but I swear by my line and pins for long runs... keeps me honest. Anyone else find lasers make you sloppy with your coursing?
I used to think a rubber mallet was fine for setting bricks until I spent a whole Saturday fixing shifted walls on a patio job in Austin. Has anyone else switched tools and seen a BIG difference in how clean their courses stay?
I remember when my buddy bought one of those electric mortar mixers back in 2018 and I laughed at him. I figured a good wheelbarrow and a hoe were all you needed. Then he let me borrow it for a foundation job over on Maple Street that had 40 bags to mix. I finished that whole pour in 2 hours by myself and my shoulders didn't ache for three days. Anybody else had a tool they mocked at first then ended up buying their own?
Saw a master mason at a job site in Spokane knock out a perfect 90 degree corner in 30 seconds with one swipe and the smooth finish I'd been chasing with my margin trowel for years was right there in front of me, so who else held out on a simple tool for way too long?
Was repointing a wall in Boulder last spring when this older guy comes out and hands me this crumbly lump of dirt off his driveway. Says, "Can you match that exactly?" I told him that's not brick, that's just mud and dog hair from the gutter. He didn't laugh, but his wife did from the window. Anyone else have clients hand you something ridiculous and expect you to work with it?