Corners blew out on a garage job in Phoenix last Tuesday

I was laying a 3-foot corner column in 105 degree heat and the mortar dried so fast my leads pulled away before I could back butter, so I ripped it down and switched to adding ice to the mix water, anyone else deal with heat cracking like that on tall corners?

1 comments

1 Comment

pat_fisher2428d ago

Rethink the ice trick, man. I've done plenty of summer pours in that kind of heat and ice in the mix water just makes the problem worse half the time. Yeah, it cools the mortar down, but then you get uneven set and the corners still pull apart if you're not fast enough. Better to work in smaller batches and keep the mortar board in the shade, plus wet the brick down real good before you lay. That 105 degree sun is brutal, but the issue is usually the suction from the dry block more than the air temp. I've ripped down plenty of corners too, but I learned to stop blaming the heat and start slowing my pace instead.