No.1 reason I love old timers, hammer and the will and Job done. No problem!!

I think you deserve a Major Award for all the knowledge and experience you are sharing. Hope you had a nice Holiday.

You're a wizard and living legend. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Just know that when I build a home soon that you'll be a part of it without even being there. As long as you post, I'll watch and rewatch.

You are , if no one alteady knows a complete gentleman. I called you once and I’ll never forget how genuinely kind to me you were/ I will never forget the help you gave me and what that meant. I am your biggest fan!!!! Thank you Mr Haduck.

Can't go wrong if you're packing it in there! You are a good man Mike! Thanks for another great video

Great video. The glass blocks look great.

Another satisfied customer. Thank you for all the educational videos you have shown me over the years.

This guy is a 60-year+ professional!!! Thats like top 99.9 percentile experience level for active craftspeople.

First of many videos of yours I have seen. Subscribed! Threw my gutter in the window bay while mowing and threw it right through the window. In my area I think it’d be better to replace it with glass blocks than a window someone can just kick in so easily. Thank you for the help! If the first goes well I hope to do all 3!

Thanks Mike, your an inspiration to me, and many others im sure, i learned tons from you, from masonry to making videos, a heart felt thanks. Edit, i like the level in the mortar trick.

a man that gets to the point, thank you sir

Enjoyed this one a lot. Nice looking job!

somehow everything is coming together ..... your passion for old world masonry history and new school history masonry ... and these videos are bringing them together in real life situations that we can all learn from and also drink beer watching you work. haha TY MIKE!

Another great video Mike , you make tuff jobs look easy.

Thanks for the thorough tutorial, sir. This is a great overview of how to do a professional-quality install!

Another great vid enjoy watching you work and learn something new every time .. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Just like that, no big deal until you actually try to do it. Then, its a giant mess and you realize how good mike is! :-D

Man, watching your videos is relaxing. Thank you

Great video. Thanks for posting it.

i like watching your videos your work is really professional

Thank you, Mike, great instructions.

Mike I love the way you work. I really hope the people who you work for valorate your job. I really love watching you do the job.

Love your videos. Happy holidays from Davenport Iowa

Thank You Sir for your significant effort to provide Others with sound practices!

Quality job again Mike 👍

Again Mike, Excellent Job with explaining and details👍......

Thanks for the thanksgiving video Mike. Paul

Really 'great' video - Mike shows the in and outs of the job to completion - very informing, very knowledgeable

Nice work Mike. I like your open style garage.

Thanks Mike these videos are great. You do a fantastic job and make it fun. I appreciate all the advice.

I've been thinking about this ... now I know how to do it. Thanks much ... and have a great holiday season!

Thank you Mike 🌺

Nice to see a professional mason use his hands, old school. It works.

Great work 🤗

You are very good at your work and you are most pleasant to listen too. Here in Canada our temperature is very close to yours so I learn from you and I thank you.

Nice Job Mike !

Looks nice when done.

Great stuff.

Thanks Mike for the videos. I have to install two 16 x 32 glass block with vents and block in two openings, We had this house built in 2003. Mason sent in a bill for the whole job, half the way through and left with out finishing.$ 30.000. He did the basement walls and footer. After about 8 years I had enough money so I had another contractor do the floors, Another $7000.00. Then a Third contractor finish my porch floor and garage floor. Another $6000.00 Plus. Lawyer said I could go after him. But if I won all I could do was put a lean on his house. Just more money I didn't have, to pay a lawyer. So after 18 years I am finishing up the job. I had plywood screwed over the openings for all this time. Thanks to your video I feel I can finally finish the work myself. Your videos are easy to follow and very informative. God Bless.

Great job.

Thanks again Mike

Dear Mike, you have been such a big help to me. Was fretting to put in a glass block window into my concrete block basement because afraid that knocking out the old window could cause the blocks above to fall in or crack, but I see you are not afraid of that and just use more mortar to fix any cracks that occur. Thank you soooo much for the confidence. :-) My next project will be installing a basement walkout room that involves widening the door opening and making an entry room from the outside of the basement with a standard door instead of the existing 28" wide door--Hopefully will be able to do that.

Great idea, Thanks.

Hey Mike, thanks for another great video including your wisdom.. Nick From Niagara Falls,NY

Another nice job.

Thank yoy so much for demonstrating how to do this. I’m about to do a bathroom window !

Awesome video thank you,

As always a great job frank from Texas

I found one of those brick hammers a year or two ago. It’s such a strong little hammer! Love it 😍

Boom Bang Job...man I am gonna use that phrase.

Thanks for another good video. I have learned a lot from your videos, and tackled repointing a brick sidewalk and repairing part of the foundation of our old bank barn. I also used cement all (based on your recommendation) to do repairs to our rear patio. I really like doing things myself and get a sense of accomplishment when I finish a job, (plus, I’m cheap 😉). Thanks again, and merry Christmas!

Good video Mike

aint gona make a big deal about it' hi Mike love your Skills and tutorship, thank You. keep well big man

Looks good, I've used the white block mortar

I love Rapid Set products but when using their mortar mix I always use their Set Control Powder mixed in with my water that way it extends my working time. Thanks Mike. Have a good day.

Cheers from London, Ontario!

been using rapid set to fix my rubble basement walls...great stuff!

Glass Block is a Great replacement for basement windows.. even for other windows that don't need to be opened (like one behind a wood burning stove).. I did one like that 20 years ago, and put river-rock lick and stick stone on the wall all around it, in an old farm house. It Looked INCREDIBLE.

i'm your follower from now, nice video ,,

Another quality video. Never gets old. ( if u want it to stick...its got to be wet..)

I now think of glass blocks as an alternative to fixing a broken garage wall. Of course, it always looks easy when you do it. However, I learned a lot. Your tip elongating the setting time of quickset with portland was very helpful as i cannot do it as fast as you can. No big deal? I think it is! Cheers!

Thanks.

mike,you sound like you're from scranton. thanks for these videos.just a hobby for me but you show me a great"'how too" ........

Like a boss 😎

Thanks again for yet another demystifying video. I wish I had somewhere to install some glass blocks now you`ve shown the way. I have liked the look of them ever since I was a kid and fell in love with Art Deco buildings. Bye the way if you want to see some eye popping old school masonry work check out "Fred Dibnah laddering a chimney". He was an English steeplejack who the BBC featured in a few series back in the 70s and 80s.

nice!! we had a coal bin in our old house... same thing.. once we switched to gas it became a storage area. As kids we used to watch when they delivered the coal lol. How those old pipes would bang when the heat came up!!

Oh man, what a bit of history being removed :(

Still made it look easy

Looks great Mike! I was looking at big box store and I see they sell those glass block windows as an assembly. Get whatever size fits your opening. About a 100 bucks though, I'm going to do my basement soon so had to watch an expert to see how it's done.

The block jobs I've done with glass all seem to have a major issue with keeping those blocks aligned and square. Once one gets pushed a bit to far into the openings it's the devil to pull back out flush Mike. Excellent job btw.

wow, i thought this was going to be a mess but great job. Fast and looks great. Only problem i see is that is it reduces one place to get out from in an emergency but im sure the owner knew that. No big deal.

Thanks Mike! We are going to use your mortar recipe to rebuild our 10,500 square foot limestone and brick mansion. I am sure we are going to get many comments on not using lime mortar.

Grew up in North Dakota. Burned a lot of coal baby. Not many trees out there and coal was 20 bucks a ton. Every winter we burned 2 1/2 tons to keep warm. I still own the Ford truck I hauled the coal with. Thanks for the memory baby

Boom bang thank you mam ,just get it done right mike

Your a pro Mike. I've used your advise on using rapid set mortar and love that stuff now. Makes repairs quick and easier to work with. I painted my church steps with Portland recently in North Jersey, I posted a video on my page and would love your input. We shall see how long it lasts. Does rapid set make mortar that dries grey like concrete? I've used the RS mortar as a overlay and it works great to fix spalled concrete but the Brite white does not match all areas and grey would be helpful to blend it in. Appreciate your videos.

So, the spacers aren't always necessary. I wish I had seen this video sooner. Bought all the spacers/etc. just to discover they make the window dimensions larger, so it wouldn't fit into the window frame (wasted money). Doing like you did, it turned it great regardless.

Looks good, Mike. I watched several of your videos on chimney repair and used Rapid Set to fix a couple cracks in my cap and joints. It certainly does harden fast. After much trial and error, I found the easiest way to work with it while up on my roof was in small batches mixed in a paint tray. Thanks for posting these videos!

save that coal bin door ... put it on an apple crate and sell it at an antiques market as a booze cozy $350 :o)

looking good Mike, So when did you take the shims off, and did you shim the inside too?

Thank you for another good informative video. I have an old window down in the basement that needs replacing. Thinking about to replace it with glass blocks instead.

I like to watch you videos; they are very educational and interesting. My house recently has an issue where the flue partially collapse in the chimney and the air from boiler is not properly leaving the house. I have contacted a company about it and they have offered 3k to fix it and install liners. I would like a second opinion on the issue if possible.

Thanks Mike. Rapid Set..... I did know it .....and I have used it. It is great. However, as a schmuck jack of all somethin I chose to use it to do my old house basement window and got burned. Rapid Set has flow/whatever additives to make it workable don’t they? Why would or should “I” use that product other than psi super powers unless we are doing fast food check cashing?

Good job. I like what lowes has called "repair mortar". Im a general contractor so not doing this stuff all the time but have often thought about mixing 50/50 a fast setting cement with normal cement? What do you think mike? Would it slow the drying to a more workable time....lol

Great video Mike! How do you recommend filling the block that becomes the inside sill? I have a partial block interior wall that the holes are exposed at the top. I'd like to cover or fill the holes and make a small sill. The problem is in some areas the block goes all the way down to the footer. About 7-8' and I don't think I want to fill solid. Any thoughts? Keep up the great videos and thanks!

i would love to have a cast iron coal door.

Now that job is about my speed. Be home by lunch.

Even the small jobs need to be done right .

We burned coal until 1990. Many a night coming home to the house full of smoke(clinker), shoveling coal in your underwear at 11pm because pop had to leave for work and didn’t have time to fill the stoker, as well as Saturday afternoons reserved for filling the coal bin three times a winter. 😊 The clinkers knew when you were out drinking, you’d be down there half drunk poking around trying to get the coal moving again lol

Hey should I leave a quarter inch gap around the perimeter for expansions and contraction during hot summers and cold winter? Thanks. Alex.

You sound like me, a death sigh every few seconds

I currently have 2 old very small jalousie windows in front of my walkout basement. Do you recommend installing glass block instead.

Mike haddock going at the glass block with his hands like a viking. With his hands, I repeat. And it's something a mason needs to know how to do. You have to know how to use your hands. Those were out first Mason's tools. And he laid em level and plumb. I remember my dad using his hands to lay brick, but only in weird spots.it worked. But his hands were bare Mike. And old Mason's have hands like brick. I wouldn't go bare unless I had to. There are days like that though when you don't have gloves.

Mike, sir,if it doesn't fit, You must acquit!

Did you sell that antique cast iron coal chute door?

Does the fast drying shrink more than standard mortar?

Man I’d love to have one of those coal shut doors. Are they common up there for sale or do they just get trashed?

One type of block that isn’t staggered

Excellent work, Mike! My dilemma: after I remove the wood window casing, its surrounded by fieldstone. I saw how you chipped away at the cement block, but what do I do with the fieldstone when I only have enough space for a half of a glass block? Thanks kindly!

Lots of groaning, joints stiffening up I suspect? Great job as usual, ty

😊👍