Old timer told me to wet my bricks before laying them on a hot day

Last summer in Austin I skipped this step on a retaining wall job and the mortar dried way too fast. Ended up with cracks in three spots by the next morning. Anybody else dealt with mortar setting too quick in the heat?

3 comments

3 Comments

emerycarr2mo ago

Yeah I learned that one the hard way too. Soaked the bricks? Nah, I'm too cool for that. Next thing I know my mortar is setting up like concrete in a bucket before I even butter the damn things. Had to chip out half a course and start over. Now I keep a spray bottle handy at all times, feel like a mad scientist misting my bricks every ten minutes. Your old timer buddy was definitely onto something though, right?

fisher.charlie6d ago

And the worst part is you don't even realize you messed up until the mortar starts cracking a week later. Then you're staring at it like, "Great, now I get to explain to my wife why the wall looks like a jigsaw puzzle." The spray bottle trick is solid though. I've actually started dunking a sponge in a bucket and just dragging it across the bricks before I lay them. Keeps them damp without turning them into a slip and slide. Your mad scientist comment hit home though. I'm out there in full sun with a misting bottle looking like I'm trying to keep a fern alive on the moon.

uma_webb282mo ago

Mist bricks like I'm watering a houseplant that's already dead.