User:Mincan/Stonemasonry

I have been involved with masonry for quite a few years now since 2003.

School Co-op Placement (September 2003-January 2004)
I decided I wanted to be a Brick and Stone Mason in Grade 10 (2001-2002). Mainly because the Trades were being pushed down our throats at the time in a series of Skilled Work commercials in those years in Canada. I noticed the Stonemasons seemed to make the most in the little pamplete dedicated to some of the most common trades. It really didn't involve any forethought whatsoever. So I set out to make it happen.

In Grade 12 I signed up for Co-op classes with a placement in masonry. I got a placement with Bender Construction. They were constructing the new High School being built in our small town of Mount Forest. I was excited and very proud of what I was doing. I had this terrible attitude at the time that I was better than other people because I worked hard at my job and was not lazy. In fact, it was the first thing I had done that could be considered not lazy.

My duties were mainly to clean up the grout and mortar that were left over from the construction of the concrete block walls. The main tools I used in my mornings at the job site were a shovel and scraper. I used the square shovel to distribute mortar to the blockmasons. In the winter I would shovel snow out of their way so they could simply get to work and start laying blocks. I never layed a single block the entire five months I was there. One blockmason felt sorry for me and actually handed me his trowel and said "here" and it was quite humourous as I recall when I tried to use the trowel to scoop up some mortar and lay in on top of the previous course of blocks. The owner Lyle Bender came over and said "oh no no no, you're making a mess" and then chastised the blockmason whose trowel I was using. I got kind of pissed off with all that.

I was happy when it was over. Although I was happy for the experience. I knew I didn't want to do block or brick laying, as I find it very tedious and repetitive. I knew I much preferred the stonework, but I knew this before I got the co-op placement there. That was the only sort of masonry placement in the small town they could get me.

Stonemason's Bitc ... I mean Apprentice (September 2004-September 2005)
After a stint at a factory job in Aurora of which I lasted two weeks before realising I'm never going to work in a factory I was calling up stonemasons in the greater populated areas from Mount Forest. I got work with a stonemason in Fergus, Scott Grant of Grant Masonry and Contracting. I was really excited to finally be getting into actual stonework, I needed a push to get the ball rolling to get this job though, character flaw I suppose.

Here my duties were much more varied, as I was the only person working for this stonemason. I would assemble/disassemble scaffolding, mix the mortar by hand or mixer, set up the worksite with tools, mortar, etc, finish the pointing of layed courses of stone, chisel away old mortar in preperation for repointing using chisels or air-chisels. I also got to all the other sorts of things you would expect.

The worse thing about this job, and the reason I'm probably not still working for this guy, is because I was the only Apprentice he had. Thus I was doing all the work by myself. Lifting cornerstones in excess of 200 pounds semi-regularly. Doing all the moving of stones to anywhere they were needed. Basically doing all the rough work. This would have been fine, if it was within reason. When I asked for help with the heavy stones, I would be mocked and my manhood put into question. I could never quite mix mortar fast enough for him. 7 minutes for a full mixer load from scratch 200 feet from mixer to mason was never fast enough, apparently he could do it in 5 minutes himself, although I never saw this done. Constant remarks about "when I was your age" and other such garbage (funny thing was, I knew someone who knew him when he was my age, and was told he was one of the laziest guys around).

The result of this excessive lifting over the year resulted in several sustained injuries. I lost a lot of the cartilage and thus lubrication in my left and to a greater extent my right knee caps. I also mislocated a couple of discs in my back. Now I more or less have somewhat regular pain in these areas dispite much rest and medicine, however no surgeries yet. I can remember one bet that a general contractor made with me, that I couldn't lift a 300 pound cornerstone. He was a small man, and suffered from small man syndrome, one of the symptoms of which is to show everyone up larger than yourself. I had to lift this stone three times in one day resultant of that bet. That alone probably did a lot of damage and I regret to this day being so utterly stupid as to go along with it.

I had to quit in the summer of 2005 after one year because I simply was in so much pain. I had ice on my knees every night and when I woke up in the mornings I was entirely stiff as a board. It was just to much burden on my body. I told Grant it was because of his extremely low wage I was leaving, which was another reason as well. He was paying me $9 an hour. Anyone from these parts nows you can work in a fast food restaurant for more (doing a lot less physically and mentally.) The standard rate for people in the masonry industry, as I knew when I was at my co-op placement the previous year, was $17 an hour to start. One blockmason labourer I knew was making $22 an hour, and he was only 21 years old!

Post-Apprenticehip
I took other less intensive jobs trying to regain my health (See Pressure washer and Flooring.) I succeeded somewhat. I now have the ability to sometimes forget the damage I've done. Should I work hard for any amount of time, I do get the return of the shooting pain in my back and the slow numbing pain in my knees. My knees crack up to 100 times a day, the doctor says they are just like old man knees. My back is extremely weak. It's really sad, I'm only 20 years old. Since I can't work my way up any high paying jobs, I can't afford any sort of treatment, even though treatment now would surely help preventing these conditions from worsening and becoming permanent.

I love stonemasonry, it is a passion of mine, and I would be well through my apprenticeship now had it not been for these injuries.

Possible Future in Masonry
I moved back to my hometown of Niagara Falls 11 years since leaving in 1995. There are no jobs here except dishwashing and cash register types. I have to decide to take something in school. I saw a course offered at the Perth Campus of Algonquin College called Masonry - Heritage and Traditional. Its a three term diploma course. Who knows, I might take this, although the more I think about wanting to be able to pull up my pants at age 40 the more I decline.

I mistakenly told my uncle to contact his bricklayer friend and tell him I'm interested in a job. We'll see how it goes if I get it. If my injuries get aggrivated, I'll quit.

I have the balls, age, and experience now to tell these guys to "screw off" when they expect too much. There is a perfectly reasonable amount one person should be expected to lift, and in this country ones have the right to refuse unsafe work.