c/bricklayers

Tried a speed rake on my last job instead of a jointer. Night and day.

Been doing brick patios for about 8 years now, always used a standard jointer for everything. Last week I was on a job in Tucson and the homeowner handed me his speed rake, said try it. I kid you not, I finished jointing a 500 square foot patio in like 45 minutes instead of 2 hours. The lines came out way cleaner too, no wobble. Has anyone else switched over and never looked back?

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pat_hall87•3d ago

The wall I thought would take 2 days took a full week instead.

I was laying a reclaimed brick wall for a patio in Nashville and those old bricks were all different sizes, had to stop and mix mortar 3 times more than normal. Has anyone else had a simple job totally blow up on timing like that?

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sam_anderson•4d ago

Rant: Should we really be mixing mortar by feel or is that just old school pride?

I watched a crew at a site in Cleveland last Thursday eyeball their mix and the wall looked solid, but I've always been told you gotta measure everything precise. Does instinct with sand and cement beat the numbers or are we just asking for cracks down the road?

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faith_thomas•4d ago

Learned the hard way about mortar mix ratios

Used to just eyeball my mix like the old timers. Got lazy on a retaining wall job last month and the whole thing started crumbling after a hard rain. Now I measure every batch with a bucket, saves me headaches.

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grantthomas•5d ago

My mortar mix kept cracking until I changed one thing

Last month I was doing a small retaining wall in my backyard and the mortar kept cracking after three days. I was using the same mix I always use but the weather was hotter than usual. A guy at the supply yard told me to wet the bricks before laying them in summer heat. I tried it on the next section and not a single crack formed after a week. Has anyone else run into this with high temps or is it just me?

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the_skyler•7d ago

Swapped from a 10-inch trowel to a 12-inch one about 6 months back

Used to always run a 10-inch Marshalltown for face brick, figured it was fine. Got a 12-inch after a job at a school in Portland, now I lay about 30 more bricks a day without any extra effort. Anyone else find a bigger trowel slows them down or speeds them up?

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angela_dixon•22d ago

Was dead set against power trowels until I saw a slab at the Hansen job site

Walked onto that Hansen warehouse pour last month and saw a guy run a power trowel over a 2-day old floor, it looked like glass compared to my hand finish on a similar slab the week before. Anyone else switch late in their career and wish they had done it sooner?

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simon_wood72•23d ago

Stumbled on some mortar mixing numbers that made me rethink everything

I was reading through an old trade journal from 2019 and found a stat that said using too much water in your mix can drop compressive strength by up to 30 percent. That got me thinking about how I've always just eyeballed it on site, adding a splash here and there to keep things workable. On the other hand, a dry mix is a pain to lay and can cause weak bonds if it sets too fast. So where's the line between workable and waterlogged? Anyone else ever tested their mortar slump or just go by feel like me?

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lisar14•23d ago

Just realized I was cleaning my trowels wrong for 15 years

I was at a job site in Pittsburgh last month and an old mason came over and asked why I was soaking my trowels in water overnight. I told him that's how I keep the mortar from crusting up. He laughed and showed me he just wipes them dry with a rag after every few bricks. I tried it and my trowels don't rust anymore. Has anyone else been doing it the long way like I was?

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faithbaker•24d ago

Blew a mortar joint on a retaining wall yesterday

Tbh I was laying a retaining wall out in Fairfax and one of the mortar joints just let go around 3 PM. The whole top course shifted about 2 inches before I caught it. Had to pull out 12 blocks and re-lay them after mixing a fresh batch. Absolute headache, but I figured out my mix was too dry since the temps dropped faster than I expected. Has anyone else dealt with mortar failing on a wall after a sudden temp change?

2 comments

the_fiona•25d ago

Tried parging a foundation wall with a sprayer instead of by hand

Got a cheap hopper gun from Home Depot and figured it would save me hours on an old stone foundation up in New Hampshire. Ended up with half the mix sliding off in chunks and spent longer cleaning the nozzle than I would have just troweling it. Anybody else ever try to shortcut a wet parge job and regret it?

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terrymitchell•27d ago

Worst week of my bricklaying career started with a pigeon

Honestly last Tuesday I show up to this job in Brighton and there's a pigeon nesting in the mortar mix. Took me 20 minutes to get it out and by then the sun was already cooking everything. Then I dropped a brand new trowel down between two walls and had to dig it out with a stick. Ended the day with a load of bricks that were all chipped on one side. Has anyone else had a string of bad luck like that where everything just goes wrong at once?

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troy439•27d ago

Rained on a fresh wall I built last Thursday, mortar turned to mush

I spent all Wednesday afternoon laying a nice garden wall at a house in Eugene, got it all struck and cleaned up, but then Thursday morning came and a freak thunderstorm hit before I could tarp it. The mortar basically washed out of the joints in about an hour, and now I gotta rip out a whole section and start over. Anyone else ever get burned by trusting a clear forecast too much?

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cora400•27d ago

My trusty pointing trowel snapped clean in half yesterday

I was mid-strike on a restoration job in Ft. Wayne when the handle just gave out on me. It was a Marshalltown I'd been using for about 7 years, probably my favorite one ever. I had to finish the rest of the day using a buddy's loaner and it just didn't feel right at all. Has anyone else had a favorite tool fail on them like that out of nowhere?

2 comments

jade_grant95•28d ago

Finally tried a bricklayer's trowel over a cheap hardware store one

I was using a $12 trowel from Home Depot for like 2 years and always wondered why my wrists hurt. A old timer on a job site let me try his Marshalltown last month and I swear it cut my time by 30 percent. The balance is just different, it flicks mortar off way smoother without fighting you. Now I get why guys spend 60 bucks on one tool. Anyone else have a tool upgrade that made you feel dumb for waiting so long?

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pat_hall87•28d ago

Bought a 60 dollar rebar cutter off Amazon and it snapped on the third cut

I borrowed my neighbor's big Bosch cutter before and this cheap one just couldn't handle #4 rebar at all, has anyone found a budget cutter that actually lasts more than a couple jobs?

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knight.xena•1mo ago

Old mason told me my mortar was too wet, cut water by 10% and joints stopped sagging.

He walked over, grabbed my trowel, and said 'you're painting not laying' so I dropped from a 6 slump to a 4 and suddenly my walls stayed true without slumping at the base, has anyone else had a foreman call out their mix on day one of a big job?

2 comments

bettyhunt•1mo ago

That fancy mortar mixer I thought was a gimmick saved my back on a big job

Honestly, I was dead set against buying a powered mortar mixer for years. Thought it was just another way to waste money when a shovel and a wheelbarrow worked fine. Then I took on a 3,000 brick retaining wall in Tacoma last month. After day two of mixing by hand, my shoulders were shot and I was falling behind schedule. My buddy finally talked me into renting a mixing drill from the supply house, and ngl, I finished the wall in four days instead of six. Has anyone else switched to a mixer and seen a big difference in their daily output?

2 comments

simontorres•1mo ago

That expensive brick trowel I almost returned turned out to be worth every penny

I bought a $120 Marshalltown trowel six months ago and thought I made a huge mistake the first week. The handle felt too slick and the blade was way too stiff compared to my old $30 one. But after about 15 hours of use the handle broke in and molded to my grip perfectly. Now I cant go back to cheap trowels because the balance and wrist fatigue difference is huge. Anybody else had a tool that took a while to click for you?

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christopherwilliams•1mo ago

Showerthought: Is it better to stack bricks dry or wet lay on a foundation in summer?

Last month in Phoenix, I did a dry stack on a retaining wall and it went fast, but my buddy swears by wet lay for a stronger bond even though it takes twice as long. Which way do you guys lean when the temps hit 100?

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cora400•1mo ago

Question for anyone who's tried the wet lay method on a hot day

Switched to wetting my bricks before laying them last July during a 95 degree job in Phoenix and it cut my mortar cracking in half, has anyone else seen that kind of difference or was it just the humidity that day?

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the_skyler•1mo ago

Just found out my mortar mix has been wrong for 3 years

I was reading an old masonry handbook from 1982 I found at a thrift store in Portland, and it said the sand-to-cement ratio I've been using is way off for structural walls. Turns out I've been adding too much sand, which makes the joints weaker over time. Has anyone else had to re-learn a basic thing like this after years on the job?

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sagesingh•1mo ago

Old timer at the job site told me my mortar mix was too rich

I was working a retaining wall job in Trenton last week and this guy who's been laying brick since the 80s walks up. He watched me mix a batch and just said "son, you're gonna have cracks come spring." Said I was using way too much Portland cement. I always thought more cement meant stronger joints but he explained it makes the mortar too rigid. When the ground shifts it'll crack instead of flex. He showed me his mix ratio and it was maybe 1 part cement to 4 parts sand. Has anyone else been told they're using too much cement in their mix?

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kim.emma•1mo ago

Old timer at the supply yard told me to wet my bricks before laying in July heat

Called him crazy until my first row started cracking 3 hours later in the Arizona sun, now I dunk every brick before I set it does anyone else pre-wet or just me?

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the_vera•1mo ago

Just ran the numbers on my mortar waste last week and it was bad

I was putting together my materials cost for a small retaining wall job in Greenville and decided to actually weigh my unused mortar at the end of each day. Over a 5 day stretch I was throwing away roughly 18 pounds of mixed mortar per day. That adds up to 90 pounds a week or close to 4,700 pounds a year if you work steady. I found this out by just putting a bucket on a bathroom scale I had laying around. Has anyone else actually measured their daily waste or am I just being sloppy with my batch sizes?

3 comments