Old foreman's rule about wet joints still holds up in Kansas City

Last week I was setting brick in a downpour near the Plaza and remembered what my old foreman told me 12 years ago on a job in Topeka, that water in the joint is fine if you strike it twice and not once, and I pulled a perfect wall on Tuesday, so has anyone else kept an old timer's habit even when the new guys shrug at it?

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james_butler12d ago

Struck twice? That's just making two passes to fix what you could have done right the first time. I've been laying brick in this area for 20 years and I've never needed a second strike if the mud is mixed stiff enough and you wait for the water to bleed off. That extra pass drags fines to the surface and leaves a slicker joint that picks up dirt and weathers uneven. Topeka guy probably had a wet mix that day and made a rule out of a bad batch.