leor83•26d ago

Walked past that new condo build on 5th Street and the brickwork made me wince

I was downtown yesterday and saw the crew finishing up the facade. The soldier course above the windows was all over the place, some joints looked a quarter inch thick, others were almost touching. They were using a basic 9-inch level for everything, even on the long runs. The foreman told me they were pushing for 800 bricks a day per guy to meet the deadline. How do you even keep a line true at that pace? I get the pressure, but that building is gonna look wavy in a year. Anyone else seen a job where speed just totally wrecked the quality?

3 comments

3 Comments

claireo671d ago

The wavy line on that townhouse row Garcia mentioned was a half inch off in places. You see it every time the light hits the side of the building, like a ripple in the brick. Once that pattern is set, your eye gets drawn to it forever.

king.aaron26d ago

Is it really going to be that noticeable once it's all done and you're looking at the whole building from the street? Most people just walk by without ever seeing those small details. A rushed job isn't great, but it might not wreck the look like you think.

garcia.wade26d ago

You can absolutely see it later, @king.aaron. We had a rush job on a townhouse row where the line was off. Once the mortar dried and the sun hit it, every single wave and dip showed up. The fix was to stop and run a taut string line for every single course, no matter how much the crew grumbled. It added maybe an hour a day but saved a ton of call-backs. Speed kills detail work, and bad brick is permanent.