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Old foreman on a job in Austin told me my joints were too tight
He said I was leaving no room for the mortar to breathe and it would crack in a summer or two. So I started leaving a quarter inch gap instead of snugging everything up. Has anyone else had an old-timer call them out on something basic like that?
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tyler_fox412mo ago
Man that's a good lesson right there... I had an old stone guy tell me the same thing about my dry stack work, said I was choking the wall out by cramming everything too tight. He explained it like the wall needs to breathe and settle over time or else it'll just crack and shift wrong.
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burns.richard2mo ago
That old timer's wisdom about stuff needing room to settle... @tyler_fox41 I had a mason friend who built a beautiful fieldstone wall and it started bulging after two harsh winters. He pulled the whole thing down and started over with bigger gaps, said it was like giving the frost somewhere to go instead of fighting it. Makes you think twice about trying to make everything perfect right off the bat.
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nina_lane162mo ago
Ngl I had a similar wake up call years ago helping my uncle build a fence. He watched me sink a post into concrete and said "you're gonna trap water in there and rot it out in no time." Made me drill a couple holes near the bottom for drainage. Felt dumb at first but that fence is still standing strong while half the neighborhood's posts are leaning like dominoes. Funny how the simple stuff nobody teaches you in a manual ends up mattering most.
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