c/bricklayers

Went from string lines to a laser level on my last retaining wall

For 12 years I pulled string lines on every course, checking with a spirit level after each row. Last month I borrowed a buddy's rotary laser for a 60-foot retaining wall in Fort Worth, and I set my heights in a third of the time. Have any of you switched over permanently, or do you still trust the string for tricky corners?

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olivia_harris19•2d ago

Switched from mortar bags to a 22-pound hopper, now I can't go back on big walls

I used to mix and haul mortar in bags up on scaffolds for years, especially on that big wall in Dayton. Last spring I finally tried a powered hopper on a job in Cleveland, and it cut my setup time by half. The old way felt more honest, but my back was done by noon. Has anyone else switched to a hopper for big walls and stayed with it?

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emmaj33•5d ago

That week in Austin where every mortar mix acted different

We had 3 days of 95 degree heat and then a sudden rainstorm, and every single batch I mixed for the retaining wall job set up like it had its own personality, one got crusty in 20 minutes and the next stayed sloppy for an hour. Is there a trick to adjusting your mix on the fly when the weather flips mid-day, or do you guys just ride it out?

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willow407•9d ago

A quick tip from my oldest apprentice changed my repointing mix

He told me last Tuesday to add a little hydrated lime to the mortar for an old brick wall, not for strength but for flexibility, and my corners stopped cracking this week after two months of chasing my tail. Has anyone else adjusted their mix based on a younger worker's advice, or is it just me?

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the_john•10d ago

Leveled a footer with a 6-foot level and a prayer, worked out

Got a small retaining wall job last month over by the river district. The footing was off by almost two inches on one end, and my laser level battery died on site. Grabbed my old 6-foot level, some shims, and just worked it by eye. Laid all 80 blocks over two days, checked it after, dead on within a quarter inch. Sometimes the old tools just get it done. Anyone else had a laser die and had to wing it with a hand level?

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the_joseph•10d ago

20 years laying brick and I just learned my trowel grip was wrong

Was working a job in Columbus last month with this kid, maybe 25, watching me lay a wall. He asks if my wrist hurts at the end of the day. I said yeah, always figured that was part of it. He shows me this grip where you hold the handle looser and let the trowel do the work. Tried it for one row and my hand felt completely different. Been doing it the hard way since Clinton was president. Any other old heads out here still gripping too tight or did everyone else figure this out ages ago?

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oliver2•10d ago

My trowel popped out of the handle mid-wall, here's the fix I use now

Working a retaining wall out in Oak Creek last Tuesday, doing a soldier course, and my trowel head just flies off the handle on the third tap. Went straight into the wet mortar too. Customer was standing right there watching. I looked like an idiot. Turns out the wood handle had dried out and the wedge inside loosened up. I keep a tube of epoxy and a spare wedge in my truck now, takes 5 minutes to reset it. Has anyone else had this happen with the older wood handled trowels, or do you all just run straight to the rubber grip ones?

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anthonymurray•13d ago

Mortar mix by eye vs. actually measuring, man was I stubborn

I used to just eyeball my sand and cement for 15 years, figured it was fine until a wall in Boulder cracked after the first freeze last spring. Now I weigh everything to the pound, takes an extra 10 minutes a batch but my joints are way more consistent. Anyone else fight the old habits or am I the only dinosaur left?

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haydenbutler•16d ago

I finally found the right way to lay soldier courses on curved walls

Last week in Nashville I had a curved retaining wall job that was kicking my butt. Every time I tried to lay a soldier course along that radius, the joints kept opening up on the outside edge and closing on the inside, looked terrible. My foreman just said "quit fighting it and rack it like a brick arch" so I tried setting each brick individually with a spacing gauge on the outside face only. That trick works because the inside joint naturally tightens as you pivot, you just have to accept it and not force equal gaps everywhere. It took me about 2 hours to unlearn my straight-wall habit and now the whole line looks clean and the client actually complimented the curve. Has anyone else dealt with this on segmented retaining walls, or do you guys do something different for the inside joints?

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shaneb16•16d ago

I skipped the mortar mixer and went back to hand mixing in Tampa

Everyone on my crew told me to drop $1,200 on a powered mixer for this retaining wall job we just wrapped. I rented one for a day, hated the cleanup, and decided to hand mix all 4,000 bricks instead. It took me three extra days, but the mortar came out steadier and I caught two bad batches before they went up. My wrists are sore, but the wall hasn't cracked once in the two weeks since. Has anyone else ditched machinery on a big job just to keep control of the mix?

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morgan_ramirez•17d ago

My mortar mix was too wet for a month, a rainstorm proved it

I always mixed my mortar loose, thought it was easier to spread and work with. Then we got that sudden downpour back in March on a job over in Grand Rapids. The wall I had laid the day before just sagged in two spots, the joint lines squished out like toothpaste. The homeowner came out and looked at it, didn't even say anything, just pointed at the bulge. I stood there with a trowel in my hand and finally got it, wet mix means weak grip, it just slides under its own weight. I dumped a whole batch that afternoon and started over with a drier, stiffer consistency. It took me an extra hour per wall for a week, but the rows held straight through another storm last Tuesday. Has anyone else corrected their mix after a failure like that, or is this just my rookie mistake?

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garcia.laura•17d ago

Cement color match nightmare in Denver, turns out the batch was to blame

Last month I picked up a pallet of buff cement from a supplier in Denver and my mortar came out grayish pink, not the warm tan I ordered. The store manager told me I had to be washing my tools with dirty water or mixing too wet, basically blamed my technique. I redid a sample wall twice, still off, so I called the plant and they admitted that whole production week had a lime content issue. Replaced the pallet free and the new batch matched perfectly first try. Has anyone else gotten a bad batch where the supplier tries to blame your process first?

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sagew50•21d ago

The 2am mortar batch that wasted $120 of material at a job in Fargo

Last Tuesday I mixed a full batch of Type S at 2am for a retaining wall we were rushing before the frost hit. I was tired, skipped the sand check, and the sand was still frozen in clumps from the pallet sitting outside over the weekend. The mortar looked fine until I started buttering and it crumbled like dry cookie dough. Tore out 30 feet of blockwork the next morning. Does anyone else do a quick sand grab and squeeze test before every batch, or am I the only one who got burned this bad?

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gonzalez.reese•22d ago

Lost a whole day to a mortar mix that was too old, $180 down the drain

Bought a pallet of premixed mortar from a supplier in Cleveland last month, didn't check the dates on the bags. Three of them were sitting in a damp corner and had turned into solid chunks. Spent 5 hours trying to break it up with a hammer, finally gave up and had to drive 40 miles for fresh bags. That wasted morning cost me $180 in labor and gas, plus I fell behind on a retaining wall job. Now I check every single bag before I load the truck, no matter how much the supplier pushes me to hurry. Has anyone else had a batch go bad on them like this, or am I the only one who got burned?

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julia_miller24•25d ago

Put $70 into a mortar mixer attachment that threw mud everywhere on the first job

The thing claimed it would save time but it just slung my mix all over the lawn and I had to hand mix the rest anyway, anyone else had bad luck with those?

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wyatt_green31•27d ago

Type M vs Type S mortar for a retaining wall job

I laid about 800 blocks on a retaining wall last month using Type M mortar like the spec called for. Mixed up a batch of Type S on a smaller garden wall last week and the stuff was way easier to work with. The M held up fine but it set so fast I had to rush every joint. Anyone else stick with S for residential work even when the prints say M?

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veram99•27d ago

Hit 10,000 bricks laid in a day and it totally changed my mind about speed

I always heard that rushing leads to sloppy work. But last month on a job in Austin I pushed myself to hit 10k in one shift for a big wall. I actually ended up with fewer mistakes than my usual careful pace. Something about the rhythm just clicked. Has anyone else found that going faster actually cleaned up their work?

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jesser79•29d ago

Took me 10 years to figure out I was buttering my bricks wrong

I always wet my bricks before laying them but last week a old timer at the yard said I was actually making them too wet and causing slipping. He showed me a quick dip instead of a soak and my next wall came out way straighter. Anyone else get taught a bad habit early on?

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rowan_roberts49•1mo ago

Changed my mind about using a mortar mixer after 12 years of hand mixing

Last week on a job in Cleveland I had a 300 brick retaining wall to do solo and my shoulder was killing me by lunch. My helper kept pushing me to try his mixer and I finally gave in around 2pm. Honestly it cut my time by almost half and the mud was way more consistent than anything I ever got by hand. Anyone else switch later in their career and feel stupid for waiting so long?

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joel603•1mo ago

Changed my mind about using a mortar mixer after 12 years of hand mixing

I always thought hand mixing mortar in a wheelbarrow gave me better control over consistency. Then last week I borrowed my buddy's Imer Minuteman 95 and ran a test with 5 bags of Type S. The mixer got every batch uniform in under 3 minutes flat, and I couldn't find a single dry pocket. Anyone else been converted by a machine after swearing off them for years?

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tessa_clark74•1mo ago

That $80 mortar mixing paddle wrecked my drill in under an hour

Picked up a cheap mixing paddle from Home Depot in Nashville last month to mix some Type S for a retaining wall. After maybe 45 minutes of mixing, my old Milwaukee drill started smoking and quit on me. Probably should have just borrowed a proper mixer from my buddy or rented one for $40 instead.

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bennett.noah•1mo ago

Tried wet lay versus dry lay on a wall in Austin last month

I had to do a garden wall about 40 feet long and decided to try wet lay on one half and dry lay on the other. Dry lay was faster but the wet side came out way straighter and held up better through a hard rain we got two weeks in. The mortar really locked everything in place. Anyone else find that wet lay is worth the extra time on longer walls?

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clark.robin•1mo ago

Watched a guy at the supply yard lay 200 bricks without a line and I had to eat my words

I used to be one of those guys who thought you absolutely needed a chalk line for every course. Three weeks ago at Builders Mart in Akron, I saw this older fella just eyeballing his work. He was putting up a garden wall and every course was dead straight. I asked him about it and he showed me his trick - he uses a level on the first course only, then just trusts his eye and keeps checking every 10 bricks with a straightedge. Tried it on a small retaining wall in my backyard last weekend. Worked way better than I thought. Has anyone else dropped the line on shorter walls?

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jesse_fisher•1mo ago

Talked to an old mason at the supply yard and he told me he never uses a level on his foundation courses.

He said he just trusts his eye and a string line after 40 years of laying block, and now I'm sitting here wondering if I've been overthinking my whole approach after that 3 foot bubble on a wall I did in Spokane last spring, anyone else go back to basics like that?

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william_carter•1mo ago

Man, I nearly lost my cool on a retaining wall job last week

Was doing a curved retaining wall over in Maplewood and the whole thing just started bulging out after I had already set the first three courses. Turns out the base gravel was compacted wrong (like, not enough) and I didn't check it before I started laying. Ended up having to tear down about 12 feet of work and redo the whole foundation from scratch. Took me an extra 4 hours just to dig it out and pack it right with a hand tamper. My back is still sore three days later. Anyone else ever put faith in a bad base and pay for it later?

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