Watched my mortar joints crumble on a Jackson job because of one dumb habit

Was doing a backyard wall over in Jackson last month and about three weeks in the joints started cracking and flaking out on me. Guy I work with swung by and said the mortar was drying way too fast because I was mixing small batches and letting them sit while I laid. For 6 years I always mixed a full wheelbarrow and just kept adding water when it got stiff, turns out that flash sets the mortar and kills the bond. Now I mix half batches and dump what I don't use within 30 minutes. Anybody else get burned by this early on or was I just not paying attention?

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elliots2319d ago

Honestly adding water to stiff mortar is not the real killer here, it is how long that mix sat before it got used. Once it starts to set you can't bring it back with a splash of water, you just weakened the whole batch. Half batches and a 30 minute dump is the right fix, but the bigger thing is only mixing what you can lay before it starts to stiffen up.

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