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Old foreman on a job in Austin told me my joints were too tight
He said I was leaving no room for the mortar to breathe and it would crack in a summer or two. So I started leaving a quarter inch gap instead of snugging everything up. Has anyone else had an old-timer call them out on something basic like that?
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tyler_fox415d ago
Man that's a good lesson right there... I had an old stone guy tell me the same thing about my dry stack work, said I was choking the wall out by cramming everything too tight. He explained it like the wall needs to breathe and settle over time or else it'll just crack and shift wrong.
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burns.richard5d ago
That old timer's wisdom about stuff needing room to settle... @tyler_fox41 I had a mason friend who built a beautiful fieldstone wall and it started bulging after two harsh winters. He pulled the whole thing down and started over with bigger gaps, said it was like giving the frost somewhere to go instead of fighting it. Makes you think twice about trying to make everything perfect right off the bat.
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