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Took on a curved wall job and my mortar mix was all wrong, cost me a day

I was working on a backyard project in the suburbs outside Phoenix last month, a curved retaining wall. First time doing a radius that tight, and I figured my standard Type N mix would hold fine. But the blocks kept slipping out of place as I went around the curve, and I lost half a day cleaning up and redoing sections. Ended up switching to a stiffer mix with more Portland cement, which gave me way better grip. Has anyone else dealt with mortar slump issues on curved work, or was it just my technique that needed fixing?
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2 Comments
jason_stone
Man, that's rough. A buddy of mine tried a curved patio in Flagstaff with the wrong mix and his blocks started sliding like ice cubes. He had to pull everything, add lime, and redo it from scratch.
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allen.amy
allen.amy21d agoTop Commenter
Lime fixes everything, lol.
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