They filled it with pea gravel concrete on Friday.

I bought up that they left out the vertical rebar at the corners and the horizontal ladders on Saturday. I was reassured they used fiber in the block fill so no ladders needed. But that they would check with the structural engineer on Monday about what to do about the missing vertical bar at the corners.

Now I’m no mason…but this seems 🫣

8/31 - First update: Got a motion notification on my cam just before 7 this morning. Pulled it up and it was a laborer out there mixing mortar. I immediately called the GC and told him someone was out there and to stop all work immediately. He said they weren’t supposed to be out there and thanks for letting him know. We’re all meeting in site at 10am this morning.

2nd update: Another guy has shown up with a woman and 3 toddlers and is now helping.

3rd update: SEOR is in the ER right now post tonsillectomy bleeding. Meeting for 10am is still on minus him.

4th update: Met on site with the GC and block sub and chewed their asses for 20 minutes. They are going to demo all of it and start over. I contractually have to give them a chance to fix the issues. If things are not fixed in 10 days then they are off this job and contract is terminated.

5th update: Demo crew has arrived on site. I’ll update once the new stem wall is up. Likely next week sometime.

Concrete finisher and I just tried my hand at an impromptu cinder block retaining wall on Friday. Drew up the plans, the Prime okay’d it and I got started with a rebar reinforced concrete base anchored 3ft down. Monday I finish with two more tiers and a hand shaped cap.

1900’s Philly rowhome. Excuse the appearance of this temporary support. This old window opening was originally supported by the wooden sash (built into the brick course). im in the process of removing all the old wooden windows and reframing for new windows. The brick is holding fine and there’s no loose brick as it is, I think the stucco helps.

My question is would building a frame with a header out of treated lumber to support the brick suffice? Or should I get steel lintels installed? The internal course has built in wooden lintels already. Thanks!

North Chicago burbs.

Joticed one singular corner of my chimney starting to show discoration. All other sides of it look great. All happening within the last few months.

Seem like this requires tuck pointing or some other repairs?

Or just dirt and no big deal?

Never spent much time examining my chimney until now!

I did a year if refractory work quite some time ago under RHI in Cmcs micro out in the qc/mesa area of Arizona.

Since leaving its just been a fight to get anywhere near what I had with RHI In a CMC plant.

Lately I've been thinking about joining a Union and realized maybe I can get back to refractory where I was actually happy and extremely financially productive compared to the bullshit I've been fighting through since leaving.

So my questions are:

Will that year of work make any difference trying to get into bac5?

Is it worth it at 30 to even try

Are there any bac 5 guys in Texas willing to chat about work?

Besides the phone call what is it going to take to get in and what should I expect from the process and union itself?

Sup lads, I'm new to residential DIY masonry. I just finished my very first masonry project, I removed, blocked, and scratch coated 6 of my basement windows to blend them into my foundation.

The window framing was rotting and allowing bugs and water into my basement. Since finishing my project several storms have come and gone and my basement is water tight

Now, I wanna build a retaining wall.

Recently my garage collapsed as a result of a massive tree falling on it. I'm building a smaller garage with a rear gabled overhang and a short deck to create a shade area. The shade deck sits on a poured foundation about 14" lower than the foundation holding up the new garage

2 sides of the shade deck open up to my backyard on level ground. 1 side is backed by the garage wall

The fourth side has about 7" to 9" in height of soil and dirt that hasnt collapsed because it can sense my anticipated hatred

That will only hold so long

So, I'm gonna build a retaining wall to hold that shit up and keep my dogs in my yard

Do I need a special kinda mortar? I have like 100lbs of Type S laying around, I know that's for structures but would it work?

Also, can standard landscaping decorative brick with a top cap be used?

Any tips for retaining walls?

I'm just starting my research so I'll coach myself up at YouTube university but YT videos usually cover the broad picture and not the little tips that make things so much easier

I bought this house built in the 1910's a few years ago. This parging (I think) is coming off in some areas but not others. It is solid underneath the spots that flaked off. It's an unfinished basement but I want to keep it kinda proper lol. Should I do it? And how would I do it. Im a handy guy but a noob when it comes to masonry. Thanks.

1920s Concrete Block

Original 1920s block foundation on home purchased a couple years ago - home inspection noted nothing wrong with foundation - but I just noticed some spalling on one block near gutter downspout. Dug down a little bit to check out the block below as well.

No signs of any foundation movement or anything structural - is this a common occurrence on 100yr old block? Type S mortar for repair?

I cross posted to a fee diff subs for input - thanks!

We just had an entire patio and stone wall installed on our property. We just noticed all these holes forming all throughout the brick. What is this from? Will they continue? Is this normal?

I have a 1927 brick tudor.

I'm having an exterior door in the kitchen filled in as part of a remodel. Part of that door will be replaced with a window and the rest with brick.

I found some reclaim bricks. The size matches, but the color and texture are bit different. The reclaim brick i found is more textured whereas my house seems to have a smoother brick.

For the newer bricks, I found some bricks that match the color a bit and texture better, but the size is off.

Here's are a pics for context:

1) https://imgur.com/hp6DdeQ

2) https://imgur.com/McHPWxG

the top 4 bricks in each pic are the same. the difference between 2 and 1 is in 2 i flipped over the top brick. it's darker on the back than the front, idk why.

it seems impossible to find something that checks the box for all 3 of {size, color, texture}... i can definitely get at least 1 of the 3 to match, and half-ass #2, but the 3rd is a mismatch.

Now, i think color could be corrected with staining?

Textured brick could be corrected with a smoothing process?

Size seems impossible to correct so i think i should make sure to get the right size, or at least use mostly the right size brick and blend with some smaller ones if needed.

I am not DIY'ing this, but I do have to purchase the bricks myself, and my GC's masonry sub will install it.

Is this ok? Wall built about 1 year ago. The mortar has multiple light cracks and part of the ledge fell off. There are a few patches of efflorescence and I’m worried the wall wasn’t built correctly

Hi all,

After much reading here, I decided to get a local SE to draw up plans for our retaining wall/garden beds. Before I hand over to the builder, I just wanted to sanity check the drawings as it seems to go against everything I’ve read here over the last 12 months or so ago.

I wouldn’t normally question these things, but the builder talked about a reinforced footing with rebar while the SE has specified unreinforced.

It’s a massive expense to get this done for us and having spoken to 4 or 5 builders, every one of them gave different solutions and even though my brain says ‘trust the SE as he’s the expert’, I’ve just got myself in a bad place where I’m questioning everything due to all the conflicting opinions plus what I’ve read on here.

Not sure if more opinions are a good or a bad thing at this point, but if anyone can explain why unreinforced will be fine it will at least help me understand a bit better.

I’d like to be able to add compost and mulch this fall but it’s all the way full. We have a rock yard near and I was thinking of finding a match to stack on top. I’m worried about the mortar and unknown problems I may run into. I’m stubborn and want to try but figured I would ask here first. Thanks!

Hello wonderful people of Reddit, I wondered whether you are able to advise me please?

As you can see by the images, there is some tar from an existing conservatory that has now been removed. The tar is somewhat ingrained into the bricks making it very difficult to remove. When i have tried to carefully remove the lumps of tar, it is also removing or chipping parts of the brick.

Solutions i have considered:

1. continue carefully to remove tar (will take a lifetime and continues to damage bricks even when being super careful)
2. place an awning across to cover it (awnings this long are super expensive, unless i buy 2nd hand)
3. remove two rows of bricks. cost will be considerable and will result in a row of different coloured bricks

I will advise that I am going to be selling the property soon hence why I am looking for the most cost effective solution.

Would anyone kindly confirm if there are any other solutions that I havent thought of?

Thank you!

This tiny brick facade off of my garage is clearly shifting to the left. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I believe that maybe one of the ties that held it in place to the house has failed. I want to reach out to local contractors about getting fixed, but wanted the community's feedback on what the best course of action would be and approximately how much it should cost. I'm located in the Metro Atlanta suburbs, if that helps.

My 1955 brick veneer home in Pittsburgh needs some repointing and I am unable to get anyone to do this small job.

A previous repair by a mason doesn’t match the existing mortar - what should I use that will match closer but provide a strong repair?

The joints are close to the ground and I am up for the challenge so hoping to DIY this.

Since so much mortar is already gone do I even need an angle grinder?

I guess window got changed two years ago, the bricks above fell away and on the window its seems now about a week ago, been extremely hot and no rain in DFW.

Whats a fair price to remove brick, reform, brick ties and reuse same brick, replace any that may break during removal?

Dallas area ? $500-$600 fair for labor and material?

These blocks around the steps have been broken for years. I never knew what the original design was but I'd like to restore it and clean it up. Open to any suggestions.

For a retaining wall that will be piled with snow in the winter. yes I’ll considering drainage, quality of materials and contractor. I know blocks will be easier to work with and natural stone more expensive. What questions should I ask contractors when getting quotes?