elizabeth438•20d agoMost Upvoted

Is stacking wet mortar joints actually faster than dry ones?

Been on a commercial job in Grand Rapids for the last 3 weeks. Half the crew stacks with wet mortar joints, the other half goes dry and lets the bricks soak up moisture before laying. I've timed both methods. Wet joint guys lay about 80 bricks an hour, dry joint guys hit 95. But seeing more cracking in the dry sections after a week of curing. My foreman says dry is fine if you pre-wet the bricks right, but I'm not convinced. What's your experience with this over a full job?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivers2820d ago

Dry joint guys hit 95" - yeah, but at what cost? I've seen dry stacking go fine on slow days when bricks are pre-wetted properly, but on a job where you're hustling, that's not happening. The water evaporates too fast in the mortar before it can cure right, and you're patching cracks later. Wet joints are slower, sure, but I'd rather take the hit upfront than deal with callbacks. One bad freeze-thaw cycle on those dry joints and you're wailing on a chisel. Stick with wet.

johnthompson20d ago

Come on man, you're completely right. Honestly, I learned this the hard way on a commercial job a few years back. The foreman was pushing us to dry stack to save time, and I thought it'd be fine. Ngl, we had to go back and repoint half the wall after the first winter because all those dry joints just crumbled. Tbh, taking the extra time with wet joints feels like a pain in the moment, but it's nothing compared to the headache of explaining to a customer why their brand new wall is already cracking. Pre-wetting bricks takes like two minutes, and it saves you from sounding like a chisel all day later. Stick with wet, period.