Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum banner

You know you are mason when...

17K views 126 replies 30 participants last post by  TheItalian204 
#1 · (Edited)
I figured we needed one of those :D...


so You know you are mason/bricklayer when...

Every stucco,brick and stone house you drive by gets at least a glance before you drive off.

You wake up in the morning with numb hand and go to sleep with sore knees.

You never diminish other trades but deep inside you know they got it easy.

Most likely will scrap almost every piece of wood you have to cut.

You complain about prices on portland for two and half hours,and they should never get you started on prices on brick

Your foreman used to say: My daughter can do more than you did (and you think that must be one hell of a mutant daughter)

standing on 35 feet scaffolding in the dark while your help is holding the spotlight so you can finish the wall,thinking that they dont teach that in the apprenticeship program

You shiver in disgust when someone inquires about cultured stone but shiver of pleasure when you are paid big bucks for it.

You can eyeball the slope without whipping out the level or string line.

You might have heard this when you were just starting: "When I wasa like you,I can putta 1500 bricks aday."

In the end you still enjoy that you are probably only trade HO does not have DIY seminars about.
 
See less See more
#73 · (Edited)
Your dads' multi-nation family business transports/pays you, provides top notch equipment & material to build a back yard bbq/patio, shoves purty D-DD chicks in front of you & calls home to tell their brother (dad) 'He's gone mason for good, Good Luck'.

Oh, at least I gotz the DD part right. Arghhhhhh, three daughters........Yes, I believe in the Second Amendment of the United States of America.
 
#75 ·
masons

TINSTAAFL That is correct most of the afore mentioned buildings are funded by groups with deep pockets. We must not over look the facts that around 70% of the worlds buildings (res.& non res.) are built of masonry. As one old european told me years ago. Only is the U.S. are the homes built with the fragile junk that the citizens accept. This mind you takes place in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. As the architect Milton Wilfred wrote if we build with no thought of posterity we are like the barbarians. As Stephen Mouzon wrote"when costruction was the most costly & difficult i.e. ancient times we built the most beautiful and durable buildings.Now that it is easy we build junk.
 
#76 ·
TINSTAAFL That is correct most of the afore mentioned buildings are funded by groups with deep pockets. We must not over look the facts that around 70% of the worlds buildings (res.& non res.) are built of masonry. As one old european told me years ago. Only is the U.S. are the homes built with the fragile junk that the citizens accept. This mind you takes place in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. As the architect Milton Wilfred wrote if we build with no thought of posterity we are like the barbarians. As Stephen Mouzon wrote"when costruction was the most costly & difficult i.e. ancient times we built the most beautiful and durable buildings.Now that it is easy we build junk.
It was also often done with slave labor.
 
#78 ·
masons

STONECUTTER That is one of the prevalent theories. Another theory proclaims they were built by inspired,willing artisans. I have to ask the question. Would a artist produce their most beautiful masterpiece with a revolver pointed to their head,or when given free rein and of their own volition? In my travels to ancient Egypt,they are presenting the concept that even the pyramids being built with slave labor is a myth. This idea does not come from the government but from Egyptologists from the Orental institute which is part of the university of Chicago. They have had a full time staff present in Egypt for sneaking up now to close to 100 yrs. uninterrupted.
 
#80 · (Edited)
STONECUTTER That is one of the prevalent theories. Another theory proclaims they were built by inspired,willing artisans. I have to ask the question. Would a artist produce their most beautiful masterpiece with a revolver pointed to their head,or when given free rein and of their own volition? In my travels to ancient Egypt,they are presenting the concept that even the pyramids being built with slave labor is a myth. This idea does not come from the government but from Egyptologists from the Orental institute which is part of the university of Chicago. They have had a full time staff present in Egypt for sneaking up now to close to 100 yrs. uninterrupted.
Well, an artist wouldn't be doing the grunt work needed to built massive and beautiful structures. . Or if you were the artist, master mason or craftsman that was working under and for a sovereign nation that was not your own, what else would they do?...complain to the union rep? It's pretty naive to think that slave labor wasn't used in some cases..I didn't say ALL ancient building was done this way just that it has been done.
 
#81 ·
You know your a mason when the sky looks like rain but it dont, and the only way to make it rain is to mix a batch of mud. Yep then you know your a mason :)

You know your a mason when winter hits and your going stir crazy with all the downtime grrrr.

You know your a good mason when you build a lead that you cant even slide a sheet of paper between your plumb level and your wall.

You know your a mason when siding makes you wanna snap hahaha. peace out.
 
#83 ·
You know youre a mason when.....


You use a mudstand as a grill. (Yes, another food reference) It was windy so we put the plywood barrier up to keep the hog torch from blowing out, and to help cook faster.
 
#85 ·
I havent done that yet, but that brings me to another question. Do other trades drop their food on the dirt/floor, pick it up likes its no big deal, give it a quick brush, and eat it? Or mostly just masons?
 
#91 ·
posterity

When it comes to the discussion regarding posterity,durability,etc. if one is interested, the essay i quoted from can be read in entirety. OF TIME AND ARCHITECTURE by MILTON WILFRED GRENFELL. It goes without saying one can concur,or not. It can be pulled up,just type in title & his name.
 
#93 ·
When it comes to the discussion regarding posterity,durability,etc. if one is interested, the essay i quoted from can be read in entirety. OF TIME AND ARCHITECTURE by MILTON WILFRED GRENFELL. It goes without saying one can concur,or not. It can be pulled up,just type in title & his name.
I have an e-book recording of Thomas Payne, 'Common Sense'.
Run it once a week on the house speakers when mom, and daughter are home. ( and can't escape )
I am such an ass......hahaha
 
#97 ·
You know your a mason when you know the mud is too stiff from the sound of the mixer, you can tell when the 11th row of bricks land on the ground without looking, you know where the laborer is from the sound he makes or doesnt, you know when the tarp droops on the back end of the salamander heater, you know when the mixer is about out of gas, you can hear the laborer frame the hearth wrong-dont ask how, you just know, you even know when the framer misses his nail on the trim.

When you stand more or less still all day looking at a brick its amazing how much you know whats going on around you.
 
#101 ·
anybody mention...

wiping out a perfectly good $150 pair of Wolverine pigskins in 90 days.

Hate when that happens :censored:

Day 1...lets see what they look like after 90 :laughing:
 

Attachments

#102 ·
anybody mention...

wiping out a perfectly good $150 pair of Wolverine pigskins in 90 days.

Hate when that happens :censored:

Day 1...lets see what they look like after 90 :laughing:
My record is 8 working days. They were Timberlands and I never bought another pair. Total failure...seams blown out, toe destroyed, sole coming off...all thanks to a bluestone patio and stone wall. I tried to win some in that contest but thats the only way I'd ever wear that brand again.
 
#105 ·
I was a laborer for most of my teen years with a mason that lived in my neighborhood..
I want to thank that old Italian man Gino Farone for teaching me to stay in school and go to college.
I realized that he always needed Preparation H on the truck, Gout medicine and aspirin to function.
One winter after I graduated high school of working with him convinced me to enroll in January of the following year.
 
#110 ·
good masons

You can always tell where the good masons worked and were the BOOTS worked after the crew left for the day without even looking at the wall.Just look on the ground at the base of the wall. A boot will have a wheelbarrow of mortar at base,the real mechanic will have a coffee can half full were he worked. Talk about restless nights,my old friend Taylor would have one if he was ever to get mortar on his boot tops. I have known top notch bricklayers wear the same coveralls for 5 days in row and they were cleaner then the boots' were the first day at noon.
 
#112 ·
You can always tell where the good masons worked and were the BOOTS worked after the crew left for the day without even looking at the wall.Just look on the ground at the base of the wall. A boot will have a wheelbarrow of mortar at base,the real mechanic will have a coffee can half full were he worked. Talk about restless nights,my old friend Taylor would have one if he was ever to get mortar on his boot tops. I have known top notch bricklayers wear the same coveralls for 5 days in row and they were cleaner then the boots' were the first day at noon.

Yeah one guy I knew could go to church after being at work. He could also hold an 8" block at chest level while demonstrating something to a new guy for as long as he wanted. And this was in his mid 60's
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top