Finally got my mortar mix right on a tricky brick veneer job

I was working on a fireplace rebuild in a 1920s house here in Cincinnati, and the old lime mortar was a nightmare to match. For the first two batches, the stuff was either too sandy and crumbly or so sticky it was like laying bricks with glue. My foreman took one look and said, 'That ain't it, kid.' I spent an evening just messing with small test batches, adjusting the ratio of sand to type N mortar by half a shovel at a time. After about five tries over two days, I hit the sweet spot. The next batch had perfect workability, held the line clean, and the color blended almost perfectly after a light brush. It's a small thing, but getting that consistency down made the whole job flow so much smoother. Anyone else have a go-to trick for dialing in a custom mix on the fly?

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3 Comments

simonb926mo ago

Sounds like your foreman and @campbell.elliot's ref both have a good eye for when things aren't quite right.

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verar217mo ago

Foreman owes you a beer now.

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campbell.elliot7mo ago

Nah, Foreman did his job. The call was close but it went our way. If anything, the refs missed a hold on the play before. He earned that win fair and square.

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