Walked past an old school on Water Street and noticed the brickwork I helped lay back in 1987 is still standing strong

I was driving through my old neighborhood last weekend and took a detour past Harrison Elementary. That job was one of my first as a foreman. We were doing a big addition to the front entrance. I remember the architect wanted this special running bond pattern with headers every five courses. My crew thought it was overkill. I had to redo a whole section because my apprentice mixed the mortar too wet. But seeing it still there, no cracks, no spalling, made me think about how much the trade has changed. We used all lime mortar back then. Now everything is Type S and you hardly see anyone take the time to tool a proper concave joint. Does anyone else ever go back and look at their old work? I'm curious how the older stuff holds up compared to what we do today.

2 comments

2 Comments

river_fox186d ago

Honestly, I used to think oldtimers were just romanticizing the past when they talked about lime mortar and hand-tooled joints. But seeing stuff like this really makes me rethink things. Your brickwork surviving that long with no issues says a lot about the care that went into it, even if it seemed over the top at the time. Ngl, it's kind of humbling to realize that what we call "overkill" now often ends up being the stuff that lasts.

logan2636d ago

Lime mortar gets way too much hype honestly. Yeah it's more breathable but it's also weaker and crumbles faster in freeze-thaw cycles unless you baby it with maintenance. That Harrison Elementary job probably just had good drainage and a solid foundation more than the mortar being magic. Plus modern Type S with proper tooling can last just as long if the guy on the trowel knows what he's doing. Concrete block walls from the 50s fail all the time because the crew was sloppy, not because of the materials.