Pulled up an old chimney from 1892 and the mortar recipe surprised me

I was working on a tear down last week in an old neighborhood near downtown, and we had to pull out this brick chimney that was built in 1892. The homeowner wanted to save some of the bricks for a planter, so I had to be careful taking it apart. While I was cleaning off the old mortar, I noticed it was way harder than anything I mix up today. I got curious and looked into it, and apparently a lot of those old chimneys used a lime based mortar mixed with horsehair and even egg whites to make it stick. I found this old book online from the 1880s that actually had the exact ratios listed out. They used like 1 part lime putty to 3 parts sand, and then added a handful of animal hair per batch. It made me wonder if our modern cement mixes are really that much better, or if we lost something by switching over. Has anyone else run into wild old mortar recipes on a job?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler_white421mo ago

Cool mortar story, but are we really gonna sit here and pretend egg whites are the secret to modern masonry? People back then just worked with what they had, same as us.

kevin_wells461mo agoMost Upvoted

People back then just worked with what they had" - exactly lol. That's the whole point, it's not some deep engineering breakthrough. I mean cmon, egg whites in mortar? That's like saying my grandpa used duct tape to fix his car, doesn't mean we should start building engines with it. People get way too caught up in these "ancient secrets" videos when really it's just old dudes trying random household stuff because modern supplies weren't available. Not everything has to be a viral myth you know.