What masons do

- Masonry is a specialty trade, meaning that not all build-outs utilize their craft. But those that do, benefit from the durability and beauty of the mason craft. Masonry is one of the oldest trades beginning its history with the Neolithic Revolution, and continuing on with the wonders built in Egypt, Central America, and Persia. - Those were masons that built those pyramids. So we have a long, long history with the bricklayers. - [Narrator] From ancient stone castles, to the brick, tile, and marble work of today, masonry blends aesthetics and function. - Some buildings can't go up without masons. Some buildings are block structures, so the building just doesn't exist without bricklayers. Some buildings don't need bricklayers at all, they just have glass and metal panel and other things, stuccos and stuff like that, but as far as us working with other trades, we always are working around other trades. We can be working with ironworkers, we can be working with sheet rockers, sheathing guys, metal stud guys, electricians on block work if there's electrical inside of block work. - The masonry trades are comprised of several specialties. Bricklayers construct with brick, cement, cinder blocks, stone, and marble. Marble setters cut, tool, and set marble in interior and exterior walls and floors. - With us, you know, you can learn brick laying, you can learn tile setting, you can learn restoration, terrazzo, and also marble, so there's several different crafts to become a journeyman in those crafts. - Terrazzo workers create decorative and durable surfaces by using a mixture of cement, sand, pigment, or marble chips. Tile setters install ceramic tile, marble, and granite to floors and walls. And finishers supply and mix construction material for all of the mason trades. - There's a whole list of things that we do out there. The apprentices will actually be putting on either flashing or maybe some exterior sheathing or maybe even some waterproofing. And they're working these areas right along with the journeymen, so those guys have their role, and then there's the journeymen that go along and actually lay brick and do layout, and then there's usually a saw up there on the scaffold sometimes and they'll be making cuts out there, and then there's the hod carriers that are out there that are shoveling mud and moving brick. - Masons perform important restoration work for historical buildings and contribute durability and aesthetics to new construction. - The progression of a building is pretty amazing. And you can think about it in terms of maybe a building has a million brick on it, so when you start closing in on that million brick number, things start happening really fast. And for me it's just supper gratifying finishing a building, walking away on that last day, and turning around and looking at that building, and going "yeah, I was a part of that, and that's going to be there for a hundred years." We kind of classify them as hundred-year buildings now. So, that part of it is a pride factor and very gratifying. - If you think you might like to blend precision and creativity with an active career, check out our content on LinkedIn Learning.