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Mortar and colour
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26-01-2005 2:25pm#1Hi there -
Not long ago, we had a builder doing some work which called for coloured mortar. The finished job did look the business for a while, but the colour in the mortar seemed to wash out (?) over time, and six months on there's barely a trace of it left. Just looks like grey mortar - and my dear wife ain't happy! (Not that I am either.)
(According to the builder this is the way it goes. What, then, is the point of colouring the mortar in the first place?)
So far as I know, the colour (black) was achieved by adding a powder to the mortar.
As it happens, about five years ago I had a go at rebuilding a little pillar at the road which was kindly knocked in the night by an anonymous reversing vehicle. The bricks were red and so was the original mortar. I looked into it and go hold of a proprietary rust-red powder to mix into the new mortar. It worked a treat and THAT colour looks every bit as good now as it did back then. (Wish I could say the same for my ever-so-slightly ropey bricklaying!
)
So…can anyone tell me what might have gone wrong with the recent work?
As it was to hand for another part of the job, it's possible that white cement (as opposed to the "grey" stuff) was used, but should this make any difference if the mixing was done right?
- Tom0
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