That mortar mix turned to powder after 6 months on the pallet

I stacked a dozen bags of premix under a tarp back in March, figured it would be fine. By September, the bags had sucked up moisture and the mortar wouldn't set right, crumbled like sand after two days. I had to chip out 30 feet of wall at a job site near Springfield before the homeowner noticed. Check your bags for hardened lumps before you use them, even if they look dry. Has anyone else had a batch fail this way, or do you always buy fresh per job?

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dylanward1mo ago

Crumbled like sand after two days" man that hit home. I had a similar thing with a pallet of type N I kept in my buddy's barn, thought the roof was solid but there was a leak right by the wall. We mixed up a batch for a little retaining wall and it looked fine going in, then a week later it was basically play sand with some rocks in it. Ended up having to rent a mini excavator to pull the whole thing out, total pain. What got me was the bags on top were fine, only the bottom two layers were toast. Now I just buy what I need per job, even if it costs a bit more, and I store the open stuff in a sealed tub inside my truck cab. Also learned to check the mfg date stamped on the bag, old stock from the yard can be just as sketchy.

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