wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:42:51 -0400, Poco Loco
wrote:


I can testify to the fact that carrying concrete blocks all day does not
require a lick of training
or specialized skill. Buying a bag of mortar and following the mixing
directions doesn't take a lot
of skill either, although a little knowledge of the English language may be helpful.

I got a pretty good schooling on laying block when I was building my 3
additions in Maryland. My contractor (and a personal friend) was
teaching his boy the trade and I was just another student/helper on
that job. I mixed mortar, stacked block on the scaffolds and laid
block to the line in the field.
If you get the mortar right, not as easy as it would seem, and you
understand the process, you can learn to lay block to the line pretty
quickly. Laying the piers in the corners and getting everything
started is a trick. Actually going fast only comes with experience.
I still think that a reasonably intelligent person could be a pretty
decent block mason in a summer. Brick may take longer, particularly if
you want to go fast.
\
I built the back half of this
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/bric...ed%20house.jpg

My dad was building an addition to his machine shop in the 1950's. Union
picketed and so they finally had a union crew one day. One day only. They
started in the morning and mixed a batch of mortar and added to it all day.
Night came and so little cement In the mortar that night a light rain and
the concrete block wall fell down. Never a word from the union, or a
picket again! Ya. Those union guys know how to mix mortar. Maybe not
correctly.