Mortar mix at a job site near Dallas taught me to slow down with the water

I was running a crew on a retaining wall job outside Dallas last summer. We were pushing to get done before rain hit and I started adding extra water to the mix to speed things up. The bricks kept sliding on me and the joints looked like crap. Foreman on site walked over and said "your slump is too wet, dump it and start over." That cost me about 40 minutes and part of a bag of type N. Now I mix the dry stuff first, add water in stages, and stop way before I think it's ready. Has anyone else had a boss call them out on a simple mistake that changed how they mix? I still watch my guys for the same thing.

2 comments

2 Comments

derek93929d ago

Man, that exact thing happened to me on a block wall in Austin a few years back. Old timer supervising yelled at me for using too much water and I had to rip out a whole row that was already set. Changed how I mix forever though.

the_anthony29d ago

Surprised nobody has mentioned the chemical reaction side of this yet. @derek939 you already know the slump issue, but here's the thing nobody talks about. Adding too much water actually changes the lime and cement hydration process. You end up with a weaker bond that looks good at first but crumbles in a few years. I watched a retaining wall fall apart two seasons after some guy mixed it like soup. The mortar just turned to sandy dust. That foreman saved you from a call back down the road. Water is the enemy of strength in masonry, plain and simple.