That time the mortar mix was way too wet on a chimney rebuild

I was working on a chimney rebuild in Springfield last fall, and we had a new guy mixing the mud. He must have added an extra half gallon of water to the batch, because it was soup. We didn't notice until I was about six courses up, and the whole section started to slump. I had to stop everything, tear down those six rows, and remix the whole batch myself with the right ratio. It set us back almost three hours on the job. Now I always double-check the mix before it goes in the hod. Has anyone else had a batch go wrong because of the water ratio?

3 comments

3 Comments

wood.paige25d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? A wet mix is annoying but it's not the end of the world. You just fix it and move on. I've seen way worse mistakes that actually cost real money. This just sounds like a normal learning moment on a job site.

jamiemiller10d ago

Used to think that too until a bad pour cost me a whole day's labor.

reese_singh8725d ago

Oh man, that "whole section started to slump" part gave me flashbacks. My buddy had something similar happen on a patio job, but with concrete. His helper got the mix way too wet, and when they poured the slab it just bled water everywhere. The finish was a total mess, all weak and pitted. He ended up having to break it out the next day and eat the cost of the extra bags. It's crazy how one simple mistake can wreck so much work.