On 22/03/2021 19:56, Andrew wrote:
On 21/03/2021 22:13, alan_m wrote:


I also bricked up a chimney opening this morning after removing a gas
fire.Â* As I already had some sharp sand and cement from my previous
job I used a 4:1 mix to mortar in some bricks.Â* 11 hours later the
mortar is hard, although not fully dry. I put a pile of the mortar I
had left over on a sheet of plastic in the outside cold. This pile is
still very crumbly so an extra 15C of temperature has made a large
difference to the setting time, as expected.



You should use proper sand for brick and blocklaying mortar. Sharp sand
is for screeding and rendering, or so I thought.

I'm aware of this but it was to brick up a two foot by two foot hole
which will be plastered over. I already had the sharp sand and cement
from a previous job so I wasn't going to go out and buy another bag of
soft/builders sand.

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