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Question about mortar mix for a 1940s chimney, pre-mixed bag vs mixing my own
Patching a chimney on a house built in 1946 up in Lansing and I had to pick between grabbing pre-mixed mortar bags at the big box store or mixing type N from scratch with lime. I went with the pre-mixed stuff the first day because it was faster and I was working alone, but it set up way quicker than I expected and I ended up tossing about half a batch before I could even get up the ladder. Second day I switched to mixing my own with a 1:1:6 ratio and it felt way more workable, gave me time to actually butter the joints right. The color match on the homemade mix came out closer to the old brick too, which honestly surprised me since I figured the bag stuff was dialed in. Cost wise I think I was out around $18 a bag for pre-mixed versus maybe $12 total mixing it myself, so not a huge gap. Next time I'm doing my own mix from the start for anything older than 1960. Anyone got a go-to ratio they trust for old soft brick, or am I overthinking the lime content?
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