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Watched a mason on the Gary Ave job butter the ends of his brick and my whole mortar game changed
I always slopped mortar on the bed and shoved the brick in dry, then wondered why my joints kept cracking every winter on that side of town. He showed me a quick dip on the head joint and that 1/2 inch of mortar grabs like glue, no more hairline cracks after the February freeze. Anybody else got a small habit like that they stole off a guy on site?
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palmer.jana29d ago
Buttering the head joint only does so much if the brick itself is soaked and the mortar sets too fast. Around here we get freeze thaw cycles that will crack a joint no matter how neat you dip it. What really saved my walls was covering the whole thing at the end of the day so the mortar cures slow instead of drying out. That dip trick helps with grab, sure, but it is not the reason your cracks showed up every February. Those hairline cracks come from movement and water getting in, not from a dry brick. Your fix might just be hiding the real problem for now.
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