r/masonry:

u/BrimstoneOmega

I was complaining more about the guys that come in and have no idea what they are talking about, then go off for days about it. This is not you. This is why you aren’t blocked. You aren’t a white knight. You just don’t know. But you do now, because quite a few people are telling you what it is. You don’t like the answers, because they aren’t what you wanted to hear. No one is white knighting the work. They are explaining to you the actual process. Masons don’t go to Google to learn thier trade. They learn thier trade from a professional. Google is not for professionals. It is for people that don’t know what they are doing. And much of the time, in masonry or a lot of other professions, the information is wrong. Or missing key elements. People are in an “uproar” as you put it, not because of your ignorance, I (and them) likely have no idea how to do your job. People are explaining to you the process, and the reasons for that process. And you’re arguing with them.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Laying brick and cleaning them are, in fact, all part of the same skill set. This is like saying the chicken in your pasta, or the sauce, is a different skill than what went into cooking the pasta. Your analogy is more akin to someone putting a potted plant on the wall. No one is going to care if you put a potted plant on the wall. But if you damage it, because of messing with the joints, I’m sure they won’t feel very compelled to honor a warranty. That does remind me, I should put a clause in my contracts that says this. If you grind away all the binder from the joints by brushing away the lime and portland, leaving exposed sand, and water gets in because of this, that’s on you.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Feel free to take the answers that people are giving, and not keep arguing about what you read online.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Yes. If you do it the same day you’re going to A) turn it into a WAY bigger mess B) actually do damage to the wall. One of the first things I tell an apprentice is that if they make a mess (this is not a mess. This is what happens when you tool the joint. This is what has happened to every block or brick you’ve ever seen on a building) just leave it. Hell, I have a hard time myself, everyone’s first instinct is to wipe it away. But that’s how it ends up smearing into the pours (as you said you witnessed, when coming in the same day and messing with the joints) and making it impossible to clean.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Watch out. You’ll get white knights in here defending this and going off on you for days. I’ve started just blocking them. I completely agree. There is way to much fishing for complaints in this sub, and not enough actual masons posting thier work.
u/BrimstoneOmega

It takes 28 days for mortar to fully cure. We do not wash walls every two days, that’s a massive waste of time and would damage the structure.
u/BrimstoneOmega

Polymeric sand. Power wash, don’t even bother cealing out the joints more then that, and sand that shit. They get what they pay for.
u/BrimstoneOmega

This is why you don’t just do some bullshit brush striking. Fucking grab a pointer and push that shit in. Look at all the fucking holes. Whoever did this did some shit work, sorry about that. Yeah, you should probably have this looked at.
u/BrimstoneOmega

They’re not a mason, and have no idea what they are talking about, I would imagine (could be wrong). But if they thought you meant purchase of the frames, and not the building, tarping, securing, insurance, and time….. Yeah
u/BrimstoneOmega

Wait a minute…. Where’s the second wall? That shit is going to collapse.