A mason in Fort Worth told me to stop wetting my brick before laying it, and my mortar has never set better

Diana Williams · 2026-10-10T13:45:04.074098+00:00

Six months back I was working a big commercial job in Fort Worth and kept getting hairline cracks along the mortar joints. This older mason on the crew, 30 plus years in, asked me why I was spraying every brick with the hose before laying. I said that's what I was taught, keeps the brick from sucking the water out of the mortar. He told me that works fine for some brick, but the brick we had on that job was already too wet and I was basically laying into soup. He said to dry stack a few courses first and only dunk the ones that felt dusty or hot in the hand. Two things changed after that. I stopped guessing and started checking the brick by feel, and I knocked my mortar mix back by about a half gallon of water per batch. Cracks in those joints pretty much stopped on the next pour. Has anyone else run into a brick that just did not want the extra water?

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A mason in Fort Worth told me to stop wetting my brick before laying it, and my mortar has never set better | Bricklayers - The Community Guide