I thought a 10mm joint was fine for a garden wall, but my buddy in Austin said to go 12mm.

He said the extra mortar helps with the freeze-thaw cycles they get down there. I listened and built a 15-foot wall with the wider joints last fall. It made the wall a bit slower to lay up, but it held solid through a rough winter with no cracks. Anyone else adjust their joint size for different climates?

3 comments

3 Comments

erickelly1d ago

That freeze-thaw thing is no joke. Reminds me of a patio we put in up north, where the ground moves like crazy. We used a special mortar mix with some extra lime for give, and honestly, it was a pain to work with but it's still flat ten years later. Paul_ramirez is right about the flex being worth it, even if it slows you down. Makes you realize how much local weather changes the whole game for basic stuff like mortar.

paul_ramirez1d ago

Yeah, your buddy was spot on about that. We had a retaining wall put in a few years back and the mason insisted on fat joints for the same reason, said it gives the mortar more room to flex without splitting. Totally worth the extra time mixing mud.

the_mia1d ago

Fat joints saved my bacon on a garden wall last spring. My first try looked good but cracked after one rough winter, exactly like erickelly said about the ground moving. Had to redo the whole thing with thicker mortar, which felt like a huge step back at the time. Tbh, it's one of those jobs where doing it the slow, right way is actually faster in the long run. You just have to get over the pride of thin, pretty lines and accept the chunky ones that last.