Old foreman's mortar mix ratio finally clicked after 6 years

I used to think he was nuts for eyeballing 4 parts sand to 1 part cement on every job until I saw his 20 year old retaining wall next to my neat but crumbly one from 2021. The difference was the water content, he kept it stiff and beat it in place, mine was wet and slumped before curing. Anyone else find that dry mixes hold up way better than the bag instructions suggest?

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charles_lewis145d ago

Blew my mind the same way about three years back. I switched to a drier mix on a small garden wall after watching my cousin's old man do it, and that thing has sat through two nasty winters without a single hairline crack. My earlier attempts followed the bag to the letter and ended up looking like a damp cake that someone kicked. The secret really is in beating it into place and not trying to make it pretty while it's wet. Makes me wonder how many of our "modern" methods are just shortcuts that nobody bothered to question.