Soggy Lime Mortar

[MdB]

I've just been mixing up some new lime mortar with some rather poor results. I've been mixing 1 part lime putty (at least 6 months old) with 3 parts of sand but the result was far too wet. I'd drained the lime putty as much as possible before using it but the sand (straight from a bag) was rather damp and probably the cause of the resultant mixture being too fluid.

I would normally add a bit extra sand and a bit extra lime hydrate if I hit this problem in the past but I of course dumped my last bag into a tub to turn into putty last week and the shed I get it from is shut today.

I was thinking of leaving the stuff I've made up to settle and then pour the water off the top so as to get rid of the excess that way. Won't let me get on today but it won't waste the mortar.

Anything wrong with doing this? Is there any way of stopping this problem in the future (apart from using dryer sand)?

 

[Ian Bond]

I do just that when I have similar problems with wet sand making the mortar to sloppy - leave it to settle, pour excess water off the top, then knock it up.

No problems with it then.

 

[inwood]

I experienced similar when I recevied a new delivery of lime putty in one ton bags. Since it had been sitting on a lorry from Wales, the normally fairly stiff putty had become like cream cheese - and when mixed with sand became lime soup, not pretty, not tasty and useless to plaster with. It was a sunny day however and I left the Baron mixer going for a couple of hours which seemed to dry it out enough to make it useable. If you're mixing by hand though I think you'd end up drying out quicker than the mortar :wink:

 

[MdB]

Thanks for your replies. It looks like leaving it and draining off the excess water is a good way forward.

The putty was very much like very stiff cream cheese when it came out the tub but like all putty it soon liquefied(?) when bashed around a bit. Unfortunately, it liquefied a little bit too much...