Caught myself buttering brick faces for years before a foreman in Denver called it out

I always thought you butter the whole brick face to get a solid squeeze out. Then this old foreman on a job in Denver watched me for like 2 minutes and asked why I was wasting mud. He showed me just buttering the head joint and a thin line on the bed. Cut my time by maybe 30 percent and I felt like an idiot. Anyone else have a basic habit that took someone else pointing out to fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

lee84723d ago

My buddy Dave had me going for years thinking you had to clean every joint with a jointer after every course. I was out there running the jointer across every single brick joint like a ritual. Then this old mason named Jerry at a supply house told me to just do every third or fourth course and let the rest of the joints clean up when you hit them with the brush. Saved me so much time it was stupid. Sometimes you just need someone to show you the shortcut that everyone else already knows.

wood.faith22d ago

Every third course is fine if you're not a perfectionist.

wood.faith22d ago

Nah, taking the time on each course keeps the joint consistent and stops the brush from doing all the work.

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