Check your mortar mix before the frost hits, learned that the hard way

Last week we laid a patio in Cleveland and I skimped on the lime because the bag looked fine. Come Monday morning the whole corner crumbled out, had to tear up 40 square feet and redo it. Three years back I saw the same thing happen at a job in Toledo and told myself I'd never rush a mix again. That cold snap got in before the cure and it just blew apart. Anyone else had a supplier send a bad batch this fall?

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paulschmidt18d ago

Did you get the supplier to own up to it or were you stuck eating the cost? My buddy in Pittsburgh had almost the exact same thing happen two Novembers ago. He got a pallet of mix that looked fine on the outside but was clumpy as hell inside the bags, he didn't check past the first sack. He laid a small retaining wall and the next frost pulled half the blocks apart, just crumbled like sand. When he called the supplier they blamed the weather and told him he should have tested the batch first. He tested the next load by letting a sample sit outside overnight and it turned to dust, so he finally got a credit. Now he makes a point of opening every single bag and sticking a moisture meter in before he even starts mixing.