Mortar went from butter to gravel in 20 minutes, lost half a wall in Phoenix heat
I was laying block on a west-facing wall in Phoenix last Tuesday and mixed my usual 3 parts sand to 1 part mortar, but it started setting up in under 20 minutes instead of the 45 I'm used to. Lost about 40 blocks of work when the joints turned crumbly and had to chip them out and start over. Has anyone found a reliable way to slow the set without wrecking the strength besides just mixing smaller batches?