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Vent: the guy running the mixer at a job in Omaha set my mortar way too wet and I didn't catch it in time
So last month I was on a two story addition out in Omaha, and the GC had his own guy running the mixer instead of letting us do it, which already rubbed me the wrong way. First batch comes over and it's basically soup, I could see water sitting on top of it. I said something and he goes 'it spreads easier this way' and kept going. I should have shut it down right there but we were behind and I just started laying with it. By the afternoon the bricks were sliding, my joints were all over the place, and the next morning two courses up on the north wall had settled. Had to pull about 40 bricks back off, clean them, and redo the whole thing, lost a full day plus mortar and sand. Now I keep a little cup of dry mix on my board and I check the slump myself before anything gets laid. Any of you run into a mixer guy who just will not listen, and how do you handle it without getting into it with the GC?
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wendy_murphy1618d ago
Keep a small trowel and a scrap board handy so you can slap a test blob down and check it before the mud even hits your line, then tell the GC straight that wet mortar costs him a redo and you'll walk the job if the slump isn't right. Mixers who pull that "spreads easier" line fold fast once you show them bricks that slid overnight and a bill for the tear-out. It's not a fight, it's just the cost of his guy's mistake landing on his schedule instead of yours.
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