I finally stopped fighting the mortar gun and went back to hand troweling

Used to swear by the pump mortar gun on big retaining walls, but every cleanup took an hour and I was constantly unclogging the hose. Last month on a 40-foot wall in Cincinnati, I ditched it mid-job after the third jam and just mixed smaller batches by hand. Turns out my pace barely slowed down, but the joints came out way cleaner and my shoulder didn't scream by day two. Now I only break out the gun for long straight runs over 20 feet, everything else is back to the old way. Anyone else gone backwards on tools and found it was actually better?

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the_lucas2d ago

Done the same thing with a framing nailer once on a deck rebuild. Kept blowing through nails on pressure treated lumber, so I grabbed the hammer and just started swinging. Turned out I was only losing maybe ten minutes an hour, and the work looked way tighter because you can actually feel the grain before you sink the nail. Mortar guns are the same way, they save time until they don't. Plus, hand troweling gives you a better feel for the slump, so you catch bad mix before it sets. Keep the gun for the long stretches, but your shoulder will thank you on the short stuff.