Most of the tools listed in this section are hand tools. Chapter 3 describes impact drills, rotary hammers, and other useful power tools. Important: Wear goggles and a respirator mask when striking, grinding, or cutting masonry. Errant chunks of masonry can blind you, and masonry dust is not stuff you want to breathe.

Trowels are indispensable masonry tools. If you have no other tool, a trowel can cut brick, scoop and throw mortar, tap masonry units into place,

THE Point OF IT ALL

When you see the term pointing in masonry texts, someone is doing something to mortar joints—usually shaping or compressing them so they weather better. Repointing or tuck-pointing refers to adding (and shaping) new mortar after old, weak mortar has been partially removed from a joint, usually with a tuck-pointing chisel or a tuck-pointer’s grinder

Mason’s hammers score and cut brick with the sharp end and strike hand chisels with the other. The blunt end is also used to tap brick down into mortar.

Brick sets have a cutting edge beveled on one side, so you can cut bricks precisely or dislodge deteri­orated brick without damaging surrounding ones.

Brick cutters are rentable levered tools that pre­cisely cut or “shave” brick, as you often must do when fitting firebricks to fill gaps in a firebox.

Line blocks (or pins) secure a long, taut line to align masonry courses. They’re less important in renovation masonry, where you’re often filling in between existing courses or laying short runs, such as the sides of a chimney.

Mason’s levels are indispensable for leveling courses and assessing plumb. Generally 4 ft. to 6 ft. long, better quality levels have an all-metal casing and replaceable vials. During work, be sure to wipe wet concrete or mortar off a level before it hardens and affects the readings.

Brick tongs enable you to carry up to 10 bricks comfortably, as if they were in a suitcase.

Concrete tools include floats (used to level concrete), finish­ing trowels (for smoothing sur­faces), and edgers (short tools that contour edges). You’ll also need a strike-off board (usually a straight 2×4) for leveling freshly poured pads. Action photos of these tools appear in Chapter 10.

Miscellaneous tools include goggles, knee pads, rubber gloves, rubber boots (concrete work), a flat bar, and a home­made mortarboard (a platform that holds mortar near the work) made from scrap ply­wood. You’ll also need sheet plastic to cover sand or cement, a concrete mixer or a mortar pan, a wheelbarrow, square-nose shovels, buckets, a garden hose, stiff-bristle brushes, and so on.

PREP TIPS

The following tips will help your job go smoothly.

Code. Check local building codes and get neces­sary permits.

Water. Protect materials from rain as soon as possible. Because water causes cement to set, sacks of portland or mortar cement left on the ground—or on a seemingly dry concrete floor— will harden and become useless. If outdoors, ele­
vate sacks on a pallet or scrap lumber and cover the pile with sheet plastic, weighting down the edges with rocks.

Although bricks should be wetted before being laid, don’t leave them uncovered in a down­pour. They will absorb too much water, which can dilute the concrete and weaken the bond. (Concrete blocks, on the other hand, should be laid dry. Don’t wet them beforehand.)

Sand and gravel are little affected by water, but if they absorb a lot of water, you’ll need to reduce the amount of water you must add to a mortar or concrete mix. Damp sand won’t ball up when you squeeze a fistful; it contains about 1 qt. of water per cubic foot. Wet sand will ball up and will contain about 2 qt. of water per cubic foot. Dripping wet sand oozes water when you squeeze it and will contain about 3 qt. of water per cubic foot. Of greater concern is the purity of these aggregates: Unload them onto an old sheet of ply­wood or a heavy (6-mil) plastic tarp to keep them from being contaminated with soil or other organic matter.

Weight. Masonry materials are heavy. To save labor, have materials delivered close to the work site. Likewise, have a mortarboard within 3 ft. of your work area and about waist high so you don’t need to bend over to scoop mortar. For this rea­son, scaffolding is a sensible investment if you will be working higher than shoulder height. If you’re not strong or in good shape, divide materials into loads you can handle without straining, and use ramps and wheelbarrows when possible. As you lift, get close to the object and lift with your knees, not your back.

Game plan. Before mixing mortar, complete preparatory work, such as chiseling out old joints, removing old brick, and brushing dust off receiving surfaces.

Curing. Give masonry time to cure. Because freezing compromises strength, plan your work so the mortar joints or new concrete will set before temperatures drop that low. Admixtures can extend the temperature range in which you can work, but exterior masonry work is easiest when the 24-hour temperature range is 40°F to 80°F. On hot summer days, start early—prefer – ably on a shady side of the house—and follow the shade around as the day progresses. Cover fresh work with burlap sacks, dampened periodically, or with sheet plastic. The longer masonry stays moist, the stronger it cures.

Protecting surfaces. Spread tarps to catch mor­tar droppings. And if you’re working on a chim­ney, tack plywood over the windows to protect glass from falling bricks, tools, and such.

Cleanup. At the end of the day, clean tools well. Wet them down and use a wire brush as needed to remove hardened materials. Before lunch breaks or at the end of the day, run a few shovel­fuls of gravel and a few buckets of water in the concrete mixer to loosen caked materials. Then dump it out, ensuring that the barrel wall and mixer blades are clean.

Modern masonry

materials, including stone, brick, tile, concrete, and other minerals that become strong and durable when used in combination. The craft of masonry is ancient. The oldest surviving build­ings are stone, but stone is heavy and difficult to work with. Brick, on the other hand, is less durable than stone but lighter and easier to lay up. And clay, the basic component of brick, is found almost everywhere.

Technologically, the switch from stone to brick was a great leap in several respects. First, masons began with a plastic medium (mud and straw) that they shaped into hard and durable building units of uniform size. Second, brick­making is one of the earliest examples of mass production. Third, basic bricklaying tools, such as trowels, were so perfectly designed that they’ve changed little in 4,000 or 5,000 years.

Terms, Tools, and Tips

Unless otherwise specified, mixes and methods in this chapter are appropriate for brickwork as well as concrete-block work. But most of this chapter is about brick and poured concrete because concrete – block work is uncommon in renovation.

TERMS

Here’s a handful of mason’s lingo that’s frequently confused:

Portland cement. The basic component of all modern masonry mixtures. When water is added to cement, it reacts chemically with it, giving off heat and causing the mix to harden, thus bond­ing together materials in contact with the mix. By varying the proportions of the basic ingredients of a concrete mix, the renovator can alter the concrete’s setting time, strength, resistance to

certain chemicals, and so on. Portland cement is available in 94-lb. bags.

Masonry cement. Also called mortar cement, a mix of portland cement and lime, although exact proportions vary. The lime plasticizes the mix and makes it workable for a longer period. Once dry, the mix is also durable.

Aggregate. Material added to a concrete mix. Fine aggregate is sand. Coarse aggregate is gravel. Concrete aggregate is typically 14-in. gravel, unless specifications call for pea gravel (58-in. stone).

Mortar. Used to lay brick, concrete block, stone, and similar materials. As indicated in "Mortar Types,” on p. 187, mortar is a mixture of masonry cement and sand or of portland cement, lime, and sand. It’s usually available in 60-lb. bags.

Grout. A mix of portland cement and sand or of masonry cement and sand. Mixed with enough water so it flows easily, grout is used to fill cracks and similar defects. In tiling, grout is the cemen­titious mixture used to seal joints.

Concrete. A mixture of water, portland cement, sand, and gravel. Supported by forms until it hardens, concrete is afterward a durable, mono­lithic mass.

Reinforcement. The steel mesh or rods embed­ded in masonry materials (or masonry joints) to increase resistance to tensile, shear, and other loads. In concrete, the term usually refers to steel rebar (reinforcement bar), which strengthens foundations against excessive lateral pressures exerted by soil or water.

Admixtures. Mixtures added to vary the charac­ter of masonry. They can add color, increase plas­ticity, resist chemical action, extend curing time, and allow work in adverse situations. Admixtures are particularly important when ordering con­crete, because mixes may contain water reducers, curing retardants, accelerants, air entrainers, and a host of other materials that affect strength, cur­ing times, and workability.

and shape mortar joints. A good-quality trowel has a blade welded to the shank. Cheap trowels are merely spot welded. Bricklayer’s trowels tend to have blades that are 10 in. to 11 in. long. Pointing trowels, which look the same, have blades roughly 5 in. long; they’re used to shape masonry joints. Margin trowels are square- bladed utility trowels used for various tasks.

Jointers (striking irons) compress and shape mortar joints, some of which are shown in "Mortar Joints,” on p. 189. The most common are bullhorn jointers, shown in the photo on p. 190, and convex jointers, shown in the photo above. The half-round, concave mortar joint they create sheds water well.

Tuck-pointing trowels are narrow-bladed trow­els (usually the width of a mortar joint, 58 in.) used to repoint joints after old mortar has been cut back. Because it packs and shapes mortar, this tool is both trowel and jointer and has more aliases than an FBI fugitive: tuck-pointing trowel, jointing tool, repointing trowel, striking slick, slicker jointer, slicker, and slick.

Tuck-pointing chisels partially remove old mor­tar so joints can be repointed (compacted and shaped) to improve weatherability. Angle grinders and pneumatic chisels also remove mortar.