My old foreman says he never wets bricks, and I think he's been doing it wrong for 25 years

Jennifer Black · 2026-10-10T08:10:04.622561+00:00

I was loading out a job in Fresno last Tuesday and my old foreman Dale watched me dunk a batch of reds in the water barrel and told me I was wasting time because nobody does that in production work anymore. He claims in 25 years he's never pre-wet a single brick and has never had a callback on it, which is a pretty bold claim. My side is that in 100 degree dry heat the brick sucks the water right out of the mortar before it can set, and I've seen joints crumble on a wall that went up too dry. His side is that the mud today has enough lime and plasticizers in it that it holds its own. I get that time is money and a wet brick slows your whole line down, but I've torn out walls that failed and dry brick was the reason almost every time. So who's right here, is pre-wetting a thing of the past or is Dale just been lucky for a quarter century?

Discusd

Loading…

My old foreman says he never wets bricks, and I think he's been doing it wrong for 25 years | Bricklayers - Discusd