3
Hot take: I thought those new polymer mortar mixes were just a gimmick for lazy work.
I got a sample of a brand called FlexSet from a rep at a trade show in Boise last year and figured it was junk. Then we had a job with a tricky, moving retaining wall in a wet area, and the old foreman swore by it. We used it, and after a full season of freeze and thaw, that wall hasn't budged a millimeter. Has anyone else had to eat their words on a new material that actually worked?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
taylorellis8d ago
Hold on, does anyone have real data on that long term creep for these mixes in the field, or is it just a lab worry? I've seen the spec sheets but they never show a twenty year timeline.
3
martinez.kim9d ago
Remember that the real test isn't just the freeze-thaw, it's the long-term creep under constant load. A lot of these polymer mixes have great early strength, but I worry about them slowly stretching over years when they're holding back a ton of dirt. That wall might be solid now, but the clock is ticking differently than with regular mortar.
1