Mason

Mason

What. A mason builds with units set in mortar: brick, block, stone. Masonry carried the load of every building until the steel frame; it still carries fire walls, stair cores and the face of the city.

Tools. Trowel, jointer, brick hammer, mason's line and blocks, level, story pole, mixer, masonry saw, scaffold.

A day. Mix mortar to the right stiffness. Set the corners first, true and plumb. String the line between them. Butter, lay, tap, check. Tool the joints when the mortar is thumbprint-hard. Clean up before it sets.

Pay. Roughly $40k entry to $70k experienced; restoration and stone specialists more.

Path. Universal core → mortar and units → block → brick → reinforced masonry → stone and restoration. Credentials: NCCER Masonry L1–3, OSHA 10.

Look for. The Monadnock wall section in Gallery G4: why a 16-story masonry building needed walls six feet thick at the base.

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