Old timer told me to soak my bricks before laying them, I thought he was crazy

So my uncle Frank, been layin brick since the 70s, told me to dunk every brick in a bucket of water before puttin it down. I laughed at him, said that's just extra work and mess. Tried it on a little retaining wall job in my backyard last month after he kept buggin me. Turns out he was right, the mortar stuck way better and didn't crumble at the edges. Has anyone else had an old guy give you weird advice that actually saved the day?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_amy18d ago

Wait so ryan_stone, how long have you been laying brick? Because I'm not trying to start a fight, but I've heard that whole "soaking weakens mortar" thing from guys who read it in a book but never actually tried it on a hot day. Was this a big commercial job where you had time to wait, or were you working fast and the mortar was drying out before you could even tool the joints?

ryan_stone18d ago

Gotta disagree here. Soaking bricks makes the mortar take forever to set and can actually weaken it if the brick's too wet. I've always laid dry bricks and never had crumbly edges.