The day the mortar mix arrived pre-set. Literally.

Last Tuesday was supposed to be a normal job. Stacking brick for a retaining wall in Omaha. But I opened the first bag of mortar mix and it was already solid. Like a rock. Clumped up into one big mass. Turns out the supplier stored them outside and a leak got in. Had to hand bust each bag with a hammer just to get powder out. Whole crew wasted 2 hours breaking up 20 bags. Foreman just stood there laughing. Anyone else ever deal with a whole pallet of ruined mix?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.brooke3d agoMost Upvoted

Man I felt that one... been there with a pallet of bad thinset once.

david_palmer2d ago

@taylor.brooke, you're not alone on that one. A buddy of mine runs a small tile crew and he got a pallet of mortar from a new supplier a couple years back. He mixed it up like always but it never set right, stayed soft for days. He ended up having to tear out a whole bathroom floor he'd just done because it was shifting under the tile. Turned out the supplier had mixed up the formula or something, never did get a straight answer.

jessica3313d ago

Oh man, bad thinset is the worst. I had a whole skid of it back in 2018 that just crumbled like sand no matter how careful I mixed it. Ended up having to rip out three showers after they started sounding hollow a month later. What helped me was taking a sample to the supplier and making them test it right in front of me, because they tried to blame my mixing technique at first. Now I always snap a couple test tiles and let them cure for a week before I do anything big.