On Fri, 22 Aug 2014 23:01:21 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
Ed Huntress fired this volley in
:

It depends on what kind of mortar you're using. 'Better follow the
supplier's instructions.

Most lime mortars cure well wet or dry, but tend to effloresce if
kept wet after curing, about like plasters do, but not nearly so
badly. Do as block/brick/stone masons do. Put it on as wet as will
sustain the load of the stone/brick/block, and just let it cure until
cheezy enough to strike the joints -- then leave it be.

Lloyd

Well ... I'm bedding the floor stones graded 2"-2 1/2" thick in a mix
of 5 parts masonry mix , 1 portland , 3 sand , and 1thinset mortar . This
gives a mortar that's really sticky when mixed on the dry side and stays
very plastic as it sets . Makes it possible to adjust a rock that's been set
for a few minutes without breaking the bond .

That's sure nice. I had a fun time with mortar when I did my first
cobblestone walkway set in mortar, but it has stood the test of time
(7 years) so far. It's harder to get a single stone's surrounding
mortar to reliquify for resetting, but it's doable. I used a thick
piece of wire made into an L-shaped hook to lift the low stones to
level, bouncing them up-and-down to get the mortar back under them.


I'm also laying on top of a
layer of tarpaper so differential expansion wood sub , 3/4" Advantech with
1/2" OSB screwed and glued doesn't tear things up .

Good!


I'll be covering it
with plastic when I finish filling the joints . Then , it'll be the wall ...
which is a totally different technique . It'll also be covered with a vapor
barrier for a couple of weeks minimum .

How do you like the Advantech over regular ply?


Actually , I was being sarcastic when I asked that question ... I still
remember when my Grandpa poured the floor for his garage , several hours
after they finished troweling it he scattered some straw over it and covered
it with tarps to control evaporation . I had to be like 10 or 11 , which
would put it around 1962 or 63 ...

Wow, they had concrete way back then?

I set (actually, reset) my first fake stones yesterday. Four pieces
of stone veneer (limestone-like hypertufa) onto the outside of a
garage wall. Researching adhesives for it, I could either buy a $45
bag (50#) of thinset or use LiquidNails. I chose a tube of LN for
$2.39. It didn't even pretend to hold the stone up to the mortar, so
I looked around and asked the lady for a large plastic bag and some
old rags or something. She had 4 boxes of winter clothes in the
garage so I used some of those. I filled the bag with clothes, tossed
loosely into the bag, then squished it up against the stone, using the
other boxes of clothing to press against the bag. Worked just great!
Steady firm pressure all over the face of the stones, holding them to
the wall for the hours until the LN set up. I was applauded for my
ingenuity, which is always nice.

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates