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Tried mortar mix with extra lime on a cold morning and my brick wall set up soft as hell
So I mixed up a batch of type N mortar with what I thought was a smart move, adding a bit of hydrated lime to make it creamier for a job in Tacoma back in March. The temperature was hovering around 38 degrees and I figured the lime would give me more working time on the mortar board. Well, 24 hours later I pressed my thumb into a joint and it sank right in like peanut butter. I panicked and called my old foreman, who laughed and said I basically made a soft mix worse by slowing down the set even more in cold weather. Turns out the lime was fine but I should have used warm water and covered the wall with tarps overnight instead of just letting it sit there. I ended up chipping out the top 6 courses and redoing them two days later, which cost me half a Saturday I will never get back. The fix was simple, plastic sheeting and a little heat, but I learned the hard way that creamy mortar is not always your friend. Anyone else got a cold weather trick that actually works for keeping the set hard without drying out the brick?
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abbyf799d ago
Creamy mortar is not always your friend" is the truth. My buddy did the same thing in his garage last winter and ended up with joints you could carve with a spoon, so now he keeps a bucket of hot water and a tarp in the truck like it's his security blanket.
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