Old timer on my crew said my head joints were too fat on a fireplace in Knoxville, and he was right

Joel Foster · 2026-10-06T16:05:03.365281+00:00

I was laying a fireplace surround last month and the lead mason kept watching me without saying much. After about the third course he finally spoke up and said my head joints were running near 3/8 inch instead of the 3/8 to 1/2 range I thought was fine, turns out they were closer to 5/8 in spots. He told me fat joints squeeze out funny and the wall moves different than you plan. I switched to a smaller jointer and started checking with a folding rule every few bricks instead of eyeballing it. Anyone else have an old timer call out a bad habit you did not even know you had?

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Old timer on my crew said my head joints were too fat on a fireplace in Knoxville, and he was right | Bricklayers - The Community Guide