Three years of brick laying before a plumber pointed out my wall ties were backwards

I was working on a retaining wall behind a house in Columbus last July. A plumber walked by to check a gas line and asked why my wall ties were facing the dirt instead of the brick. I told him I always did them that way, that the little drip notch goes down on the wall side. He just shook his head and said mine were supposed to face out so water can't get behind the brick. I pulled one out and looked at it, and sure enough the notch was on the wrong side. Has anyone else had a trades guy catch something obvious like that years into the job?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jenny1mo ago

Ngl that's the kind of thing that keeps you up at night. I did roofing for about five years and a HVAC guy finally pointed out I was laying the underlayment wrong. Had the felt paper going vertical instead of horizontal so water could just run straight down behind the shingles. Felt like a complete idiot.

pat_schmidt601mo ago

Buddy of mine did drywall upside down for two years until his dad caught it.