That old bricklayer's tip about soaking bricks still haunts me

I was about 22, working my first real masonry gig in Toledo. There was this old timer named Frank, must have been pushing 70, who told me to always soak my bricks before laying them in hot weather. He said if you don't, the mortar will suck dry too fast and you'll get weak joints. I figured he was just stuck in his ways, so I skipped it one July day when it was 95 degrees. Three months later, I had to tear out a whole garden wall I built because the mortar crumbled like sand. Frank just shook his head when he saw it. Never doubted him again after that. Anyone else have an old-school rule they learned the hard way?

3 comments

3 Comments

angelamurphy2d ago

Totally agree with you man, Frank knew his stuff. I had a similar lesson with a concrete pour once, this old guy told me to wet the ground before pouring to keep the mix from drying out too quick. I thought it was dumb and just poured on the dry dirt. The slab ended up cracking all over because the bottom sucked the moisture out so fast. Took me a whole weekend to jackhammer it out and redo it right. Never skip the prep that the old heads swear by.

joseph_green132d agoMost Upvoted

Bullshit. I've poured plenty of slabs straight onto dry ground without wetting it first and never had a problem. Your concrete mix was probably too wet to begin with or you didn't cure it right after. Prep matters sure, but some of those old timer tricks are just superstition they pass down because they don't understand modern materials. You wasted a weekend because of bad technique, not because the dirt was dry.

keith1642d ago

Frank from 1987 in Cleveland told me the same thing about soaking bricks and I watched a guy lose a whole patio because he skipped it. But here's the thing, @angelamurphy, the science on this is actually more mixed than people want to admit. Modern mortar has additives that hold water way better than the stuff Frank was using forty years ago. You can get away with dry bricks especially if you mist the mortar bed after laying. I've done both ways on jobs and the only time I saw a real difference was when it was over 100 degrees and the bricks had been sitting in direct sun for hours. Most of the time it's just extra work for no reason.