r/Bricklaying

Tow the warehouse direct to the site instead.

It was my first time doing any kind of masonry work. My body is quite sore but I enjoyed it. Feel free to roast my work.

Some thoughts:

• Buttering bricks is hard. Maybe the mortar. Maybe my technique. 6/7 times I tried to butter the end of a brick, the mortar slid right off.
• I ended up laying the bricks into a bed of mortar and then pointing/grouting/smushing the mortar into the vertical gaps after.
• Mortar that is too stiff is hard to work with, but too wet is even worse. I don't think I ever got the right consistency.
• Cutting bricks with a chisel is fun.
• The brick spacing was determined by the ribs on the underside of the lid. That part was kinda dumb.
• Next time I'll be more diligent about wearing gloves. My hands were mad at me last night.
• I'm going to give the bricks a gentle acid scrub to get excess mortar off.

That's all I got, I guess. It was fun. I'd like to do more projects with bricks and mortar in the future.

Bricks on my chimney have chips breaking away only in one corner. The chimney is never used. Is this indicative of a more serious issue? Should I be worried that the whole side is going to fall down?