5
Shoutout to my old foreman Jim who said mortar mix matters more than brick quality - he was half right
Jim was this crusty old guy from Ohio who worked bricklaying for like 40 years. He told me back in 2019 that spending big money on fancy bricks was a waste if you didn't nail the mortar mix. I argued with him for weeks saying the brick is what people see. Fast forward to last spring, I did this retaining wall job in Cleveland with cheapo bricks but followed his exact mix recipe (3 sand to 1 cement with just enough water to make it sticky). That wall is still solid. Meanwhile my buddy Mike spent $800 on premium bricks for a garden wall but used bag mix mortar and it's already cracking after one winter. So was Jim right about the mortar being the key? Or did I just get lucky with the cheap bricks? Anyone else have a foreman give advice that turned out to be spot on or way off?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
carter.gavin1mo ago
Figure out what happens when water freezes behind the wall. Jim's mix probably had just enough air entrainment to let ice expand without cracking anything. Fancy bricks don't help if the mortar is too hard and traps moisture. Mike's bag mix likely dried too dense, so water got in, froze, and popped his joints. Jim knew the small details that make the whole system work together, not just one part.
3
the_emma1mo ago
Just a classic case of doing the little stuff right vs buying the expensive stuff and hoping for the best... always cracks me up how people think the priciest brick will save them from bad prep work.
7