I have half a bag od mortar which has been lying around for a few years. I
needed to use some so made it up and got it used quickly, just in time to
see it go off! Now I know that old mixes do go off like a shot, but assuming
the mix is still soft when used, is the strength compromised?


--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics) wrote:
I have half a bag od mortar which has been lying around for a few years. I
needed to use some so made it up and got it used quickly, just in time to
see it go off! Now I know that old mixes do go off like a shot, but assuming
the mix is still soft when used, is the strength compromised?


yes, very much so.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)"
saying something like:

I have half a bag od mortar which has been lying around for a few years. I
needed to use some so made it up and got it used quickly, just in time to
see it go off! Now I know that old mixes do go off like a shot, but assuming
the mix is still soft when used, is the strength compromised?

And how. I made the mistake of using some old cement in a non-important
wall-chase filling. When it had dried out, it just crumbled away like
sand. Utterly useless.