Shoutout to the guy who showed me my brick joints were too fat after 3 years of work

I was laying a garden wall in Portland last month and a retired mason walked by, said my mortar joints were wasting material and making the wall look bulky, and now I can't unsee the cleaner, tighter look after I slimmed them down. Has anyone else had a random passerby call out a habit you didn't even notice?

3 comments

3 Comments

seth_green852mo agoMost Upvoted

Read somewhere that experienced masons can spot a bad joint from across the street lol. That guy probably saved you a ton of material and made your wall look way better.

dakota_rivera2mo agoTop Commenter

Right? I had an old timer fix a crooked brick on my patio and it looked perfect after.

ryan_carr591mo ago

And what'd you do, stand there with a beer watching him work and pretend you knew what he was doing? Classic move. I did the same thing when a guy fixed my retaining wall, just nodded along every time he said "yeah the mortar's gotta breathe." Still have no clue what that means.