TIL I was using too much water in my mortar mixing

For years I'd mix my chimney mortar like I was making pancake batter... runny and smooth. Then about 2 months ago on a job in Greenville, an old mason named Pete watched me and said "son, you're washing out the lime." He showed me to mix it stiff, almost crumbly, and just tap it in with the trowel. Now my repairs hold way better and I don't get those hairline cracks after a week. Anyone else learn a mixing trick that changed their whole approach?

3 comments

3 Comments

derek_schmidt61mo ago

Man that old timer Pete knew what he was talking about. I had a similar thing happen with my pointing work in a basement last year. This old school Italian guy walked by and told me my mix was too wet and that I was basically making mud pies. He showed me to mix it dry enough that it barely stuck to the trowel, then pack it in with a few firm taps. Total game changer. Now I keep my mix stiff like play dough and my joints stay tight for years instead of crumbling out after one winter.

nina_jenkins1mo agoTop Commenter

My buddy tried the same thing on his own foundation work after watching a video online and it went sideways. He ended up with this patchy mess that looked like cottage cheese stuck between the bricks. Took him like three weekends to chip it all out and redo it with a stiffer mix that his neighbor's dad showed him. Now he swears by the dry mix method and won't even look at a wet batch for pointing. Guess some lessons have to be learned the hard way before they stick.

the_paul1mo agoMost Upvoted

Three weekends to chip out patchy mess? That sounds like a total nightmare, I wouldve been so pissed off after like day one of that. But hey, sometimes you gotta mess it up bad before you actually learn the right way to do something. That dry mix method is the real deal though.