The blocks don’t need to be straight so long as the load is centered and even. The mortar makes it more like a continuous piece than if you had just stacked them with no mortar. Sort of like stacking irregular stones.
To be clear, it isn’t the right way, but it can be fine.
I have seen so many shit jobs like this and had to fix them. The trades joke that masons are the biggest alcoholics and we joke that this type of work is a Monday morning, after lunch, or Friday special; because this sort of nonsense with masonry work is so common.
Those 16x4x8 blocks can hold around 2,000 psi. So an overhang like that isn’t a big deal. The wood shoring holds like half or a quarter of that.
A prior owner of my house was a mason. I know this because I get his union stuff (I’ve lived here for 15 years; at this point it’s not my problem).
He installed a huge fireplace and hearth… on top of 2 layers of old hardwood flooring… so when I ripped that out, I made the hearth unstable. Yay! It’s also an absolutely massive radiant structure, and everyone is shocked that it’s… designed for a small pellet stove.
The blocks don’t need to be straight so long as the load is centered and even. The mortar makes it more like a continuous piece than if you had just stacked them with no mortar. Sort of like stacking irregular stones.
To be clear, it isn’t the right way, but it can be fine.
I have seen so many shit jobs like this and had to fix them. The trades joke that masons are the biggest alcoholics and we joke that this type of work is a Monday morning, after lunch, or Friday special; because this sort of nonsense with masonry work is so common.
Those 16x4x8 blocks can hold around 2,000 psi. So an overhang like that isn’t a big deal. The wood shoring holds like half or a quarter of that.
Well one of them is literally stacked without mortar
A prior owner of my house was a mason. I know this because I get his union stuff (I’ve lived here for 15 years; at this point it’s not my problem).
He installed a huge fireplace and hearth… on top of 2 layers of old hardwood flooring… so when I ripped that out, I made the hearth unstable. Yay! It’s also an absolutely massive radiant structure, and everyone is shocked that it’s… designed for a small pellet stove.
It’s both well done, and not well done at all.