Warning: That level of mud in your mortar joints can actually weaken the wall over time

Saw a crew in Nashville last summer laying brick with joints so sloppy the mortar was squeezing out 3 inches on each side, and the foreman told me they were 'just being thorough' before the inspector made them tear out 40 feet of it.

3 comments

3 Comments

seth_green8513d agoMost Upvoted

A lot of guys think a squeeze-out means a full bed, but it really doesn't. If the mud is too wet or you're laying it too thick, that extra stuff just creates air pockets underneath.

noahcampbell13d ago

Huh, I gotta disagree on that one. All that extra mud just gets knocked off or cleaned up anyway, and a little squeeze-out usually means the bed is full and solid. Seems like that foreman's crew just had a poor technique issue more than anything else.

sage_perry13d ago

@noahcampbell you bring up a fair point but i think what's getting missed here is the freeze-thaw cycle. that extra goop squeezing out acts like a little shelf that holds water against the brick. come winter time in nashville that water freezes and expands then bam you get spalling across the whole wall. i watched a church in ohio lose entire faces off their bricks because some guy was 'thorough' with his mortar 5 years prior. the squeeze out looks solid at first but the way it cures different from the joint is what causes the problems later.