Masonry & Concrete

I'm laying a CMU stem wall below grade and then brick veneer on the house above. The supply house has Type M, S and N mortar. Which do I use where?

My helper mixed a big batch of mortar at 7 a.m. and it's stiffened up by 10:30. Can I just add water and keep going?

I'm pouring a 12 by 20 foot shed slab, 4 inches thick. How many yards of concrete do I order?

I'm placing a 4-inch driveway slab, 12 feet wide by 60 feet long. Where do the control joints go, how deep, and when do I cut them?

What does curing actually do for a slab and what's the minimum I should do on a residential pour?

It's July in Jacksonville, 95 degrees, and I've got a 40-yard slab pour scheduled for 1 p.m. How should I run this?

I've got a footing and stem wall pour in northern Georgia and the forecast is highs in the 40s, lows in the 20s all week. What do I have to change?

The truck shows up and the mud is too stiff to pump. The driver says he can add water. What are the rules on that?

I'm laying a 90-foot long, 8-foot tall CMU wall for a warehouse addition. How far apart do the control joints go and how do I build one?

We're grouting a reinforced CMU wall that's 12 feet tall. Can I fill the whole thing in one shot from the top, and what do I have to do to make that legal and get a good fill?

How do I set up the vertical steel for a reinforced CMU wall so it passes inspection and actually works?

How does block coursing work? I'm trying to lay out a 20-foot wall that's 4 feet tall.

I'm putting brick veneer on a wood-framed house. What's the deal with the air space, the ties and the weeps?

How should the flashing be done at the bottom of a brick veneer wall where it sits on the foundation ledge?

The engineer's spec calls for 3000 psi with 5% air on an interior slab that's getting a hard steel-trowel finish. Anything wrong with that?

What kind of plastic goes under a house slab, and does it go under the gravel or on top of it?

How do I size a footing for a one-story CMU house on sand? I don't have an engineer on this one.

The new block wall I built has white powdery stuff all over it three weeks later. What is it, and how do I make it go away?

Homeowner wants a 5-foot tall CMU retaining wall holding back the neighbor's yard, and a fence on top. What has to be in this wall for it not to fall over in ten years?

Inspector says the commercial slab needs concrete testing. What tests get run on site and how do the cylinders need to be handled?

Do I need a permit to pour a new driveway and build a 3-foot garden retaining wall in a residential yard?

I'm digging footings for a block addition in Clay County, Florida next week. What's the utility locate rule?

My crew is laying a 14-foot tall freestanding CMU wall on a commercial job. What does OSHA want from me while it's going up?

Building a CMU house on a monolithic slab in Florida. What do I have to do for termites at the foundation and slab?

What's the code minimum for a slab on grade inside a house: thickness, base, and what goes under it?

How deep do footings have to be in Florida? A guy from Ohio on my crew keeps talking about frost line.

What inspections does the building department normally want on a CMU house from footing to tie beam, and when do I call them?

Why are Florida block houses built with grouted cells, tie beams and lintels when up north they just stack ungrouted block? Where's that coming from in the code?

Garage slab pour in Orlando, mid-afternoon in August. First truck arrives at 2:10, the pump guy says it's stiff, so the driver adds 15 gallons after about a yard is already on the ground; the tested slump comes out at 7-1/2 inches on a 4-inch spec. They finish it by 5:30, hard trowel it, and knock off for the day. What's going to happen?

Crew laid an 8-foot CMU basement wall, grouted the cells Friday, and Monday morning the excavator is backfilling against it with the clay he dug out of the hole. The floor system isn't on yet. What's wrong here?

On a brick veneer job the bricklayer laid the first course tight to the sheathing with the flashing stopped an inch behind the brick face, then filled the bottom 6 inches of the cavity with mortar droppings while he worked, and there are no weep holes because 'the mortar will seal it.' Homeowner's happy. What's going to happen?

A footing trench got dug Friday, it rained all weekend, and Monday the guys have to shovel about 4 inches of loose sand and slop back into the bottom to bring it back up to grade before they pour on it. They're going to form it and pour at noon. What's wrong?

The helper rolled out 6x6 wire mesh on the poly, and the foreman says they'll hook it up with a rake as they pour the 4-inch slab. Also, the corner rebar in the thickened edge is lying on the dirt. What's wrong?

On a 12-foot reinforced CMU wall the crew laid all the block, stuck the vertical bars down the cells from the top the next morning, ordered 3000 psi concrete with 3/4 aggregate at a 4-inch slump, and poured the cells full from the top in one shot with no cleanouts, shoving a 2x4 down each cell to 'settle' it. Inspector is coming tomorrow for the wall. What's going to happen?

Poured a 4-inch, 24 by 30 patio slab on a 90-degree day, finished at 3 p.m., and the crew came back the next morning at 9 to sawcut it at 15-foot centers. The owner is asking why there are already two cracks running across it. What did they do wrong?

New block house in Green Cove Springs: the stucco crew ran the finish coat down to 2 inches below grade so it 'looks clean,' the insulation guy put 2-inch foam board on the outside of the stem wall below grade, and the landscaper piled mulch up to the sill and added 6 inches of fill against the house after the termite treatment. Three separate subs, all happy. What's wrong?

A handyman built a 5-foot exposed CMU retaining wall on a 12-inch footing behind a house with no permit, dry-laid on the footing with surface bonding cement, no cells filled, no drain, backfilled with the clay from the cut, and the homeowner is putting a 6-foot privacy fence on top and parking a trailer above it. Walk me through what's wrong.

New guy on the finishing crew is bull-floating and then steel-troweling a slab while there's still a sheen of bleed water on it, and where it's shiny he's shaking dry cement on it to soak it up. Why is the foreman yelling?

A mason is repointing a 1920s soft red brick house. The old mortar is crumbly and sandy so he's grinding the joints out 1/4 inch deep with an angle grinder and repointing with Type S he had left over, because 'stronger is better.' Anything wrong?

On a 30-yard slab the second truck got stuck in traffic and showed up 2 hours after batching on a 92-degree day. The first half of the slab had already set up enough to hold a footprint. The crew poured the second truck right against it, added 10 gallons to loosen it up, and floated across the seam. What went wrong?