Mortar mix by eye vs. actually measuring, man was I stubborn

I used to just eyeball my sand and cement for 15 years, figured it was fine until a wall in Boulder cracked after the first freeze last spring. Now I weigh everything to the pound, takes an extra 10 minutes a batch but my joints are way more consistent. Anyone else fight the old habits or am I the only dinosaur left?

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piper_burns11d ago

Oh man, I feel this in my bones. I spent way too long eyeballing my mix too, till a patio I did in Denver turned into a crumbly mess after one wet winter. Now I use a cheap digital scale and it's night and day. It's not even about being fancy, it's just that the joints hold up way better and I don't have to guess why something failed. Yeah, it adds a few minutes, but I'd rather do that than redo the whole damn job.