Mortar mix failure on a retaining wall job last Tuesday

I was working on a retaining wall in a backyard out in Maplewood, about 40 feet long and 3 feet high. The mix I used seemed fine when I was laying the blocks, but by the end of the day some of the joints were already cracking and crumbling. Turns out the sand I grabbed from the supplier had too much silt in it, basically ruined the bond. What do you do when you get a bad batch like that, just tear it out and start over or try to patch it up? I'm leaning towards ripping it down but the homeowner is pushing back.

2 comments

2 Comments

sagey691mo ago

Man I've been there. Spent a whole weekend mixing mortar only to watch it crumble like a bad cookie the next morning. Learned the hard way that not all sand is created equal - guess that's what I get for trusting the guy at the supply yard who looked like he just woke up.

ivan_hayes291mo ago

Alright, @sagey69, did you at least get a funny story out of it? Cause I had the exact same thing happen, except my mortar looked perfect until it dried and then just turned into sand again. Spent a whole afternoon hauling buckets of water back and forth, only to have my buddy walk up and say "dude, that's play sand you grabbed." Felt like a total rookie, but hey, we all learn the hard way, right? At least you can laugh about it now.