Hi,
I'm an enthusiastic and fairly good DIY-er and I recently decided to build myself a small garden wall. 4 courses in it was going very well but suddenly I'm having trouble with my mix being unworkable, and pressing the bricks down into place is almost impossible. Taking the brick off the wall again reveals that the mortar is solid and dry so there is no wonder that I can't press the bricks level into place easily. My mix is 4:1 and I've also been adding cementone. The mix hasn't changed since the start but the sand appears to be coarser now and suddenly I'm picking out lots of small stones. I'm using the 25kg bags of tarmac building sand and I'm guessing that there has been a change of batch. The bricks I'm using are Weinerberger Heritage Blend, quite a porous, rustic brick.
I'm 5 courses in with 3 more courses to go. Ideally I don't want to get a different sand to finish the job as I'm concerned that the mortar colour will look different however that may be my only option if I want a decent job done.
Is there anything I can do to make the materials I have easier to work with or should I just go out and try to find another sand which is better to work with?
Any advice is much appreciated, thanks.
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
Mate you just need to keep your mortar a bit wetter. Keep knocking it it up with water. Some bricks suck the water out really quick. Also don’t spread the whole bed. Just lay a couple bricks at a time.
Answered14 November 2020
2
Anonymous user
Riddle the stones out. It’s a long and boring task. It’s not too bad if you have something above to tie the riddle to.
Having been a bricklayer since 1982,ive experienced the problem where certain facing bricks absorb the water out the mortar more rapidly than say an engineering brick which is usually used in foundations up to floor level which needs to be dry as it hardly absorbs the water.It is true to say that a plasticiser makes the mortar more workable also some sands when mixing absorb more water.If the weather is warm and dry then you can use a hosepipe to wet the bricks as i first learnt in the hot summer of 1976 as a boy of 10 watching my dad as he was a bricklayer working in the grounds of a country manor called the clockhouse built in 1665 just after the english civil war.The problem also you got is that your using cementone which is a rapid cement that doesnt give you much working time drying quickly causing lumps in the mortar. Cementone is best to use if your building or repairing steps on the front of a house as you can walk on sooner due to quicker drying times.
Answered17 November 2020
1
Anonymous user
i would put some febmix in the mixer with the water before adding cement and sand it helps with the workibility of the muck
I would just change the sand personally , I’m guessing what you’re experiencing is what I have on a few occasions ,sand that won’t bind together ,as soon as it touches a brick it dies and even with using a decent plasticiser or ( fairy) it won’t change ,I bet it separates in the barrow so the water comes to the surface too , it’s no good mate so bite the bullet and get a decent one in
Answered12 November 2020
0
Anonymous user
just keep wetting you rbricks then they wont suck the life out of the mortar
it's as simple as that
