That trick with the buttered joint on a damp day saved my afternoon

I was laying a garden wall over near Salem last Tuesday and the mortar kept drying out way too fast in the humidity. So I buttered each brick head joint about 10 minutes before laying and set a wet burlap over the finished work. Has anyone else found a good way to slow down drying time on a muggy day?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lee27d ago

Ha! That buttered joint trick is clever, but my version of that would probably end up with me buttering the wrong end of my trowel and then tripping over a bucket of mortar. Your method sounds a lot more professional than my usual "pray for a brief rain shower" approach.

aaron_gonzalez26d ago

...but is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, yeah, humidity messes with things sometimes but I've laid plenty of brick in damp weather and never bothered with buttering joints ahead of time. Wet burlap is smart, I'll give you that, but it sounds like you're making a simple job more complicated than it needs to be. How fast can the mortar really be drying out if it's already muggy out?