Plotting mortar lines with a chalk line still bites me after 14 years

I finally realized on a patio job in Tulsa last Tuesday that I was snapping the line on the brick face instead of the bed joint, so every course came out crooked by half a joint, has anyone else made that dumb mistake after decades in the trade?

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jadew631mo ago

wait, hold on. if you were snapping on the brick face instead of the bed joint, that would actually give you a straight vertical line, not a crooked one. the crooked part comes from the chalk line shifting when you snap it, or from not holding the line tight enough against the mortar. what you probably had was the line bowing between the bricks, so every course looked like it was leaning left or right. that's a whole different headache, and it's usually a tension or wind thing, not a placement thing. either way, 14 years in and still fighting chalk dust, so i feel you there. just double check your technique before you blame the face of the brick.

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