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That conversation with an old mason about mortar mixing

I was on a job last week in a little town called Millbrook. An old mason came by to check on his son's work. He watched me mixing for a minute and said I was adding too much water. Told me mortar should be stiff enough to hold a cat's weight, not soupy like pancake batter. He was right. I've been doing it the same way for 5 years, never thought about it. Now I'm wondering if my joints have been weaker this whole time. Anyone else have an old timer correct something basic you thought you knew?

3 comments

3 Comments

wood.eric1mo ago

Cat's weight test is a good rule. I had an old roofer tell me I was nailing my shingles too tight. Said to leave a little gap for expansion or they'd buckle in the summer. Never thought about it until I saw a roof I'd done three years earlier with buckles all over. Now I leave a gap and it's fine.

kelly3851mo ago

Actually I gotta disagree with you a little here (and I mean that respectfully). The cat test works fine for basic stuff but I've seen way more roofs fail from nails that are too loose than too tight. That old roofer might have been talking about wood shingles, not asphalt. Asphalt shingles need the nail head flush with the surface. Not sinking in like you're hammering a tent stake, but definitely snug. If you leave a gap you're asking for the shingle to lift in a wind storm and then you've got a whole different problem on your hands. The buckling you saw could have been from other things too, like bad ventilation or the wrong shingle for the pitch. I've fixed plenty of roofs where the nails were too loose and the shingles were flapping around like bird wings.

the_lisa1mo ago

Nailed it with the ventilation point, that's a sneaky one people miss.