Tent it and heat it ($$) or wait until spring for the rest.

At what temperature should we consider renting and heating it? Not sure I want half of the front of my house unbricked all winter

The brick isn't the waterproofing for any home. It's the drainage plane behind the brick. Your home won't be any less weather tight for not being covered with the exterior cladding. And you're already talking temperatures where you need to start heating the brick and the space it's being installed onto. Heating the install zone and not heating the bricks too is a waste of money.

No solution just wanted to say I am sorry! I know how stressful a build can be in general, and this would have put me over the top :(. Hopefully someone comes up with a satisfactory solution.

When are you supposed to move in?

Athens, yes, I'm very annoyed!
Can anyone just let me know what temp adfitive is required? Is laying brick in 40 degree temp a bad idea?

Using an additive to increase the strength has less than satisfactory results. That is why you are getting the suggestions to increase the temperature of the product and the install site. That IS what actually works to keep the project going.

My masons finished up a fairly large brick job in Northeast Ohio on Saturday,laying approximately 800 brick. They used propane heaters to heat the brick as well as to help dry out mortar joints for striking. Anything more than this amount of brick and we would have been tenting in the un-bricked areas to heat the brick before and the wall
after installation. I won't use an accelerant on just a portion of the job. Since it sounds like you already have a lot of brick installed, I would be tenting and heating at this point. To strictly answer your question, we use an accelerant on new jobs if the night time temperatures have a reasonable chance of dipping below freezing at any point during the job.

The Portland Cement Assoc. says:

above 40 deg. - no special precautions necessary

32 to 40 deg. - heat sand or mixing water to produce mortar temp. between 40 and 120 deg. at time of mixing.

25 to 32 deg. - heat sand or mixing water to produce mortar temp. between 40 and 120 deg. at time of mixing - keep mortar above freezing until used in masonry.

For all newly completed masonry:

above 40 deg. - no special requirements

25 to 40 deg. - cover newly constructed masonry with a weather-resistive membrane for 24 hours after being completed.

The use of an accelerator additive will allow removal of the protection earlier. Be sure the additive is not corrosive to imbedded metal.

our builder said we will need to tent the garage to get the brick done there. i'm going to tell them they need to heat the brick in addition to heating the tented air.

It's supposed to be 29 tonight. Our new brick was not covered. Is this a huge problem? What will happen?

Only the water in the mortar can freeze. If the chemical reaction between water and cement (hydration) was allowed to occur to an adequate level before the temperature dropped below 40 degrees, the brick should be fine although it is normal to cover it.

But no one who did not witness the work or the present condition can tell you anything for sure. You should be asking the contractor or an independent professional who observed the work.

The brick laid yesterday in the morning to early afternoon will probably be mostly fine. The brick laid in later afternoon to early evening will probably still have had enough moisture in it to actually freeze, thus halting the curing (and damaging the strength) of the mortar. I'd personally rip all of that out and redo it.

There is no way my builder will go for ripping it down. He says its ok in these temps. My husband covered part of it with tarps when they stopped working at 4 pm. It was 40 degrees then. I'm worried, but I'm
Alone in my fears. How will we know if there are issues? Will the wal
crumble?

"Will the wal crumble?"

Probably not in time to make sure the builder is on the hook for it. It'll be a couple of years down the road after several freeze/thaw cycles. It could be sooner if the brick is closer to the bottom where it has more weight on it than the top where it has less.

Wonderful! I'm not sure anything can be done. My husband put a tarp over the newly-laid brick yesterday. How can they cover the brick on the front of my house when they are done today? It's rather tall and wide.
When the mortar fails will the bricks literally fall to the ground? If not, what do I look for?

Seriously lady? It's not gonna start spitting bricks out like a Pez dispenser... It's MUCH MUCH WORSE. But as has been mentioned, it won't happen for years down the road. When it does, any brickwork has the potential of falling over and/or separating from other brickwork. Although this js not common for a wall just to fall over. It all depends on the LOAD. What I've personally witnessed is structures such as chimneys separating from the house, leaning, and if not repaired, fall over away from the house. I've seen it at least 5 times, though only one had fallen. The others had a serious lean, and had detached from the house anywhere from a serious crack, up to about 6 inches. If you get cracks, it'll have to be redone. Though most of the bricks can be reused. It's something you DON'T want to chance. And you need to document all this in case the mason won't redo it for free. Just be polite yet firm. You can also have it inspected. Most realty companies will do it for free if they think you are selling your house. Good luck, look for cracks and leans. Above all, don't buy crack.

Fom Tooley , 10 year old post.

Oh well... guess her house got fixed, or is throwing bricks at her about now!