Stopped by an old job site in Pittsburgh last month

I drove past a house I worked on back in 2002 near Squirrel Hill and the brick wall I laid still looked solid. No cracks, no spalling, just some normal weathering after 20 years of Pennsylvania winters. Any of you guys ever go back and check on your old work just to see how it held up?

3 comments

3 Comments

harperp2410d ago

@rodriguez.mia nailed it about the early 2000s masonry. I did HVAC work back then and the installs I've checked on from that era still run clean, no rust or vibration issues. Seeing your wall hold up after two decades in Pittsburgh winters is pretty satisfying.

kai_burns7310d ago

Wait, are you telling me that uncle actually used the old Portland cement? I thought that stuff was pretty much mythical by the 2000s, most guys were already on the bagged mixes by then. That really makes me wonder how much of the modern shortcuts are actually costing us in the long run.

rodriguez.mia10d ago

Yeah I actually read something about this recently, some study that was saying how most masonry work from the early 2000s is holding up way better than people expected because the materials back then were just different. Not like that cheap stuff they try to push now. So your brick wall in Squirrel Hill, that totally makes sense to me. I remember my uncle always swore by the old Portland cement mixes and said you could tell the difference after a couple decades. Anyway, I think it's cool you went back to check, I bet that felt pretty good seeing it still standing strong after all that time.