Old foreman told me to stop soaking my bricks before laying them

I had this foreman named Ray on a job in St. Louis back in March. He saw me wetting down a whole pallet of bricks and just shook his head. Ray said I was making them too soft and they'd shift after the mortar set. I didn't believe him at first. But after 2 weeks we had a few walls where the bricks had settled crooked and I had to tear out a whole section. Now I only mist them lightly right before I lay them. Anyone else run into this with different brick types?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee_barnes7019d ago

You ever notice how most "rules" in trades are just people overcorrecting for one bad experience? Like a guy once used a hose on fireclay bricks in July and got sued, so now nobody's allowed to wet anything. I had a similar thing with an old timer who insisted you should never mortar in direct sun. Turns out he just worked in Florida where everything dried in ten minutes.

avery36618d ago

That Florida guy ever lay brick in 95 degree humidity?