My mortar mix went wrong on a job in Cleveland last Thursday

I was working on a retaining wall and the mortar kept crumbling no matter what I did. Turned out the sand I grabbed from the yard had too much clay in it from sitting in a damp pile all spring. I had to tear out 3 courses and remix with fresh sand from the supply house. Has anyone else had sand go bad like that from storage?

2 comments

2 Comments

fisher.charlie8h ago

Three courses of mortar isn't a huge structural failure sure, but it's not exactly a five minute fix either. You're forgetting that the guy had to tear it out, haul away the bad mix, drive to the supply house, get fresh sand, and then repoint everything while the rest of the job sat there. That eats up most of a day on a small wall job and costs money in lost time and materials. Sand can definitely go bad from sitting damp and picking up clay or silt, it's a real thing that happens way more often than people think. It's not about making a mountain out of it, it's about the frustration of doing work twice because of a material problem that could have been caught sooner.

blake_black479h ago

I dunno man, are we really acting like three courses of mortar is some kind of disaster? You grabbed the wrong sand, it happens, you fixed it in an afternoon. Feels like you're making a mountain out of a molehill over a pretty standard material issue.