MASONRY TIPS FOR BEGINNERS (part 1) (MIke Haduck)

Hi Mike, I'm 78 and I love your "old school" teaching. I come back to your videos before doing any of my DIY masonry projects. Refreshes my OLD brain cells and confidence. I can't thank you enough for all the money you have saved me over the past few years working on my home and 4 plex apt bldg. Both with Stucco and sidewalks that are as old as me. It's great to know your teaching will be here for my children and grandchildren. I like to have a Miller's High Life and Toast you as I complete each job. "Here's to Mike, Thank you ! "

This is one of the best DIY videos I've seen. I appreciate someone who shows all the little techniques and doesn't make it overly complicated. Also, the video has cuts at the perfect spot. Normally I have to skip forward during the slow spots but I watched the whole video with great interest. Thanks a lot Mike!

Nicely explained tips Mike, so glad to hear you tell people to wet the stonework first before adding any mortar. This is a bit of a long one but passion is passion so I won't apologise. The usual reason for wetting down is so that the background doesn't suck out the moisture from your mud because this will compromise the work at a later time and might crack, let the water in and fall off. Doing any kind of stonework I prefer to use lime putty mortars because the dark grey looking mud of a strong cement mix is boring and unsightly I think. I like to slake (make) my own lime putty by buying in quicklime (aka, lump-lime) and when you add water(2:1) you will double the amount of lime putty produced. A putty mix makes a lovely sticky mud into which, for special pointing mixes I also add crushed and sieved charcoal and chalk chips which makes the pointing work look so much better, it also looks like the very old pointing you see in the old buildings and walls around the south-west of England where I live. I heard you recommend a 3:1 mix for cement which might be OK for engineering bricks but is too strong for soft sandstone or old clay bricks and for this softer stone I'd prefer to do a 5:1 with cement and by adding 4 sharp and 1 soft sand to your 1 cement this makes the mortar/mud even stickier. Typical masons like to do a 6:1:1 mix which is 6 sand (plasterers or builders sand), 1 hydrated lime and 1 cement, the hydrated lime makes the mix sticky like adding a fine or soft sand (we call it plastering sand in the UK) as I mentioned before but just as you said, every builder seems to have their preferred mix ratio's don't they. For the record, in my collection of different aggregates I have stone dust, sharp sand, play-pit sand, builders sand, and even a green sand but my top favourite sharp sand ever is called Bideford Grit. This is dredged up from the sea in the Bristol channel near my home and is washed with water to remove the salt, the sand has bit's of sea shell and multiple grades of crushed stone and sea creatures, it has it all. To see if you have the right and best sand go for a variety that has sharp angular bigger bits of stone in it, this is because at a microscopic level the angular bits bind better together than the rounded shaped stones in river sand. When you have found the desired sand, add some water to damp it and then ball it in your hands. If it holds it's shape then this is really what you want. To make double sure, get a glass jar with a lid, half fill with water and put the sand into it. Shake it up and leave to stand for 24 hours. There should be at least 5 different strata of aggregate which is your optimum grade of sharp sand. Well done for reading to the end, I once worked for a man who had about 30 different types of sand in his yard where he slaked his own lime putty. He had 3 lime pits and would make up mixes of coarse stuff for special jobs. When you use lime putty there is no shelf life like there is with cement which means there is less waste. The same shelf life applies to hydraulic limes (the NHL's), paper bags of cement and gypsum plasters, which is about 4 to 5 months, this also depends how you keep it and the older it is the faster it dries. With Lime putty I heard about some 500 year old lime pits found in Italy where the putty was still usable after all that time. The Roman architect Vetruvius made what is known as Roman cement, this has no actual cement but was in fact volcanic ash, lime and seawater with added volcanic rocks. He made a special mix was put into wooden molds which were then submerged in seawater. Within about 10 years this produced 2 new minerals, aluminum tobormorite and Phillipsite the latter being a plate like structure that bent rather than shattered when put under stress. This might explain why their sea harbours are stronger today than when they were first built. So if you can, use lime instead of cement, it's better for the environment, uses less energy to make, it absorbs CO2 and gives you better acoustics inside a room and when you make too much mortar, you can put it in a tub with a lid and a thin cover of water, use it the next day, week, month or years later. With cement, after it does it's first set you have to throw it away because it's gone fairly solid. All the best to my transatlantic cousins from us in the UK. xx

Mike, Thanks for taking the time to make these videos for all of us "Novices"! I really appreciate it.

I just want to take a minute. I know this particular video and comment thread is older, but I want to give some incite into why I think Mike’ style of instruction is so valuable in case my comments could help someone else in their teaching or to just help us understand how we learn trades. See, I’m fifty and I can still remember making a series of cement stepping stones with my pap, who was from Pennsylvania incidentally, and he always taught me in the same manner that Mike teaches on these videos. Craftsmanship as we called it then - not artisan or “maker” whatever that’s supposed to mean was about common sense, grown and built from observation, trying, taking little risks, growing your knowledge, passing down and laterally and acquiring technical skills without being overly “technical” if that makes any sense. There’s another part of craftsmanship that works the line of contradiction that on one hand takes pride enough to say that there’s a right and wrong way to do everything and, on the other hand, is flexible and generous enough to accept that there might be many right ways at times. In other words, you start. You try to pay attention. You get inside of it so that it’s fun for you. Then you relax. Now the real observing and learning can start. Then you start to pass along and teach. And NOW the real learning can actually start. That’s what we called trades or craftsmanship. Thanks Mike.

Mike - I have used your Videos for 6 YEARS to help me Re-model my house and now, my Son's house. Tile, Porch Repair, Walkway Repair ... one Successful project after another! YOU - are My HERO !!! ... and I LOVE your Music. Can't Thank You enough ... you've saved me $ Thousands $ ... and given me the COURAGE to tackle jobs that Contractors have turned down. Wm Brown, CRNA Retired.

I am a 60 yr old female. I been rehabbing houses for 35 years. Folks always ask me ( is there anything you don’t do ) I always tell them CONCRETE. I don’t do concrete. This last year I have been watching your video’s and have concreted up basement windows, repaired exterior field stone chimneys, put in new chimney flews and mortared up sides of fieldstone chimneys to make a nice transition for the roof flashing. Thanks mike it really is like you say, NO BIG DEAL. I live in the upper peninsula of Michigan ( The U.P.) our weather is up and down day by day like yours and really cold in the winter, much like yours. TY. Yooper girl, from the U.P.

That rhythm of applying the mortars! You are an artist!

Thank you so much. You surely are helping many people across the country.

A younger Mike! I love you brother. Ya remind me of my uncle who taught me everything from riding a bike to building cabinets.

This man loves his work he works through the day. And he passes on his knowledge to others in his spare time. Great video as always Mike I’m learning from a craftsman.

even tho you filmed this with a pillow ..... i've watched it again ... the message is still there. this is exactly the message you always say. thanks again MIKE! make some more music

You, sir, are truly a class act!  When I was a Journeyman painter, I always enjoyed learning the "old school" tricks of the trade.  Thank you for passing on your "old school" tricks of your trade!

I’m glad I found this. I can do most jobs but have zero hands on experience with masonry other than what I’ve ‘seen’ when managing on job sites. This really helps break it down and gives some great tips to get started right, on my home project. Thanks for the video. It was really good. It also showed me that it’s going to take me some time to do what I’m doing if I want to do it right 👍

THANK YOU! That is by far the best video I have seen for beginners and appreciate you sharing your techniques!

I wish I could upvote this video a hundred times. Thanks Mike.

This is just the kind of video people need for an introduction to get an idea of what their new skills should look like; simple and practical, no theoretical stuff that only applies in the classroom. Great work.

Thanks, Mike. Nice, simple, thorough and good for this beginner.

I am fairly handy and take on most small repairs around the house but know nothing about masonry. I needed to do a parging (new word in my vocabulary thanks to you) repair and didn’t have any idea of how to do it. This video including the old school bonding is just what I needed. I’ll buy my Mason Mix today and get ready to practice on a small area. Thank You

Hi Mike, I just wanted to thank you for taking your time to make this video. It is very informative and helpful. We are lucky to have people like you who are willing to share their professional expertise. Wish you the best and kindest regards, Sonny from Washington State