The day I stopped buttering my bricks and started slaking my lime changed everything

I used to think you just had to wet your bricks before laying them, like my old foreman showed me back in 2019. But last month on a job in Austin, this older mason named Carlos watched me sprinkle water on a stack of clay commons and just shook his head. He told me I was making the mortar dry out too fast and that I needed to slake my lime putty overnight instead of using it fresh out the bag. I tried it his way on the next batch and I swear the mortar stayed workable for a full 20 minutes longer than usual. The bond was way stronger too, no more little cracks forming along the joints after a day. I felt like an idiot for doing it wrong for 4 years. Has anyone else switched from wetting bricks to fixing your lime mix and seen a difference?

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the_mason5d ago

My foreman from 2016 would have had a heart attack if I told him I was slaking lime overnight. He was old school, swore by wetting bricks so hard they practically dripped before you laid them. I switched to slaked lime about two years ago after a buddy in San Antonio showed me his mix and I thought he was pulling my leg. The difference was like night and day, my mortar stopped cracking and I could actually take my time without stressing about the set. But hey, your mileage may vary, I still know guys who wet their bricks and swear by it. They just like making extra work for themselves I guess.