Question about mixing mud for a big garden wall job

I was working on a curved wall in a backyard in Austin, and the homeowner's dad, a retired mason, came out to watch. He said, 'Son, your mix is too wet for this heat, it's gonna slump before you set the third brick.' I was using my usual 3:1 sand to lime ratio but with extra water. He told me to cut the water by a third and add a shovel of clay from his yard. Tried it, and the mortar held its shape perfectly all afternoon. Anyone else had an old timer give you a simple fix like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.brooke6d agoTop Commenter

That old timer was just lucky his yard clay didn't have salts that would cause efflorescence later. Adding random dirt is a gamble that can ruin the wall's long term strength. Modern plasticizers in bagged mix give you that workability without the risk. Sometimes the old way is just the wrong way.

webb.keith6d ago

Yeah, that gamble with random dirt is how my uncle's garden wall turned into a crumbly mess after a few winters. The white salt stains were the first sign, then the whole thing just started to flake apart. Bagged mix costs more up front, but you're paying for the stuff that actually works right. Watching him chip away at that ruined wall was lesson enough for me.