That stat about mortar waste on big jobs blew my mind

I was reading through some industry report last night, I think from the Masonry Institute, and it said crews waste up to 15% of mixed mortar on site. Like per project. That's bags and bags just sitting in the mixer or on boards drying out. I always figured we lost some but not that much. How do you guys keep your mortar from going bad between batches?

2 comments

2 Comments

verafoster28d ago

That 15% figure is the official number, the unofficial number is whatever's stuck to my boots.

the_jordan28d ago

Ha, 15% sounds about right honestly. But here's what I wanna know - are they including the mortar that gets knocked off the block and falls to the ground, or is that separate? Because I swear half the time I watch new guys butter a block they flick more mortar off than they actually leave on the joint. We mix smaller batches more often now, like enough for maybe 45 minutes of work instead of trying to stretch it. A couple of buckets of cold water on standby helps too if it starts setting up early. But that 15% number still feels low to me if they're counting everything that gets wasted from drop and cleanup.