Mortar went off before I finished the wall, was it the heat or my mix?

Last Thursday in Dayton I was laying block on a 90 degree morning and by the time I got to the last 12 feet the mortar was stiff as a brick in my tub. I had to rip out two courses and remix a new batch on the fly, lost about 40 minutes. I've always used the same 1:3 ratio with a little lime, but I'm wondering if the pallet sitting in direct sun made the sand hotter than I'm used to. Anyone else hit this on hot jobs, and do you switch to a cooler water trick or just work in smaller loads?

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margaretf406d ago

Been there and it stinks, especially losing two courses in that heat. Ninety degrees in the morning is brutal, and that pallet baking in the sun all week probably made things worse than you'd expect. Hot sand plus hot tub plus hot water means the mortar sets up way faster than the mix ratio would suggest. I'd bet on the heat, not your recipe. Try mixing smaller loads and keep your water in the shade if you can, cold water buys you a few extra minutes. Splitting the wall into shorter runs sounds slower but beats tearing out block.

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