Spotted a huge difference in my mortar mix after switching sand suppliers

Used to get this super fine sand from a place in Waco, but switched to a coarser mix from over near Lorena last month and my joints are holding way better with less cracking. Anyone else notice that kind of change just from where the sand comes from?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia6347d ago

Lol who knew dirt could be such a diva. Guess your old sand was just too bougie to hold together.

oliver_anderson7d ago

Well dang, I gotta push back a little on that @patricia634. I used to run a crew that did nothing but repointing old limestone walls, and sand was actually the biggest headache we had. We tried three different suppliers before settling on one near Moody because the grain shape was totally different - rounder grains packed tighter and actually reduced our crack rate by about half over a summer. The old sand had too many flat particles that just wanted to pop out under tension. It's not the sand being bougie, it's the geology - different river deposits have different mineral content and crushing methods, and that changes everything from workability to finished strength.