On May 25, 5:29*pm, "EXT" wrote:
"ransley" wrote in message

...
On May 24, 12:09 pm, DJW wrote:





I am going to do some tuck-pointing on a square cut stone house. I am
testing mixes in order to try to closely match the mortar. I have
found that the newly mixed mortar does not seem to be near as hard as
the original mortar even after 24 to 48 hours.
Will it harden more as time goes on?
I know as it hardens it should stay wet but how does this affect its
hardness. Should I spay it with water a number of times a day and for
how many days?

When mixing how does the amount of water affect its hardness. I laid a
mud bed once for a shower stall and used a dry mix like wet beach sand
and it hardened nicely. When doing a slab once I used a wetter mix and
floated it a lot to get the cream up and have a smooth surface with
not much aggregate showing. When it comes to mortar how wet or dry
should it be?

I am trying a one to two and one to three mixes of bagged mortar to
sand. The mortar I have is just straight with no sand in it already.
It just that the old mortar pieces that fell out I can’t even snap in
two but with my new test mixes after 24 to 48 hours I can snap in two
and also mash to a grit between my fingers.
I tried a straight mortar no sand just to see if it hardened ok and it
did but can still be broken with not too much effort.
Limestone? Ive just used mortar mix with good results and no damage to
the stone, but if you dont like the grey color you need a custom mix.

Don't go by the color just after you use it as it will be light grey to
whitish from the cement in the mix, after a year or two or three, the cement
on the surface will wear away showing the color of the sand used in the mix.