Just wanted to say how excited I am that you are back. I had been wondering if we would ever see more from the cellar. Your efforts have been an inspiration - admittedly every thing I have tackled so far has been on a much smaller scale. Just built an outdoor fireplace a few weeks back (video on my channel) and that was my first time, not pretty, but it works. Keep the videos coming.
I recommend you wash the stones in a big plastic basin, after leaving them in water for a little bit (depends on stone type, bricks for example need at least an half an hour until they fully absorb). This lessens the dust, but more importantly makes the mortar stick better to the stone, far better than with just spraying the stone *and* gives the mortar time to set, otherwise, the stone will suck all the water out of it. It's also kinda like putting wood glue on both pieces of wood you're about to glue. Crumbly mortar can be a few things, but mostly drying too fast (in my experience). If you used too fine a sand, that's not good either, CO2 needs space to work through the mix and too fine a particle, or clay (unwashed sand) and soil can mess that pathway as well. IMO, what you can do to make things kosher with your volume of work (which also affects how it fixes) is to make a few samples (where you fix your recipes and write them down). Start with a classic mix, then add a bit more aggregate, more water, spray water after setting, various tests. You don't need big samples, either, like one of those smaller cups of yogurt are perfectly sized to get a good representation (the plastic wall of the cup will also give you a neutral representation of what happens inside the mortar. I usually do this kind of stuff when i'm unsure of the conditions in which i'm forced to make mortar, otherwise, i go with coarse sand, classic proportions, and like i said, all the non mortar elements (which includes the surface to which they are glued to) are wet in abundance to avoid the water being sucked out. Sidestory, i once forgot to wet the concrete pad on which a pillar support was clad with stones, and ... it basically walked off that concrete pad, despite it being well chipped in advance, which is also something you can do. I use a welding hammer to give it a good score. Awesome update. Looking forward to see the main stairs being rebuilt, that easily one of the cooler features inside your cellar. :)
Thank you for your input, astute as always ! I didn't have a big tub for the big stones but I tried with the smaller ones. There are things you know you should do, but in the rush and novelty of a job, they just seem to vanish... And I'm a bit wary about putting too much water in the cellar, I will need to find a solution anyway. And you're right I need to make some tests and sample to understand the behaviour better. Thanks for your support, it's greatly appreciated.
@@thevaultedworkshop765 I know how it is, you get into something and everything just flies out of your mind :)). Yeah, i didn't consider the water issue for you, but good point, that much water would upset your efforts in the red. Well, even if the mortar gives, it's easy to clean (especially if it fails) and with the experience you'll have at the end of this project, you'll know exactly what to do. SO there's no worries there. Saw the new video, you already did way better than before. :)
@@aserta I don't think it dried too quickly(maybe), but it was definitely not mixed well enough as I did it by hand and too eagerly. And also I didn't realised how slowly the lime takes to set, it is not cement, especially in high humidity, low temperature of the cellar. So I, may have mistook crumbliness with not yet set... Now I think it will hold, for a while at least. But everytime I learn something new anyway :). I wetted the stairs way more than I did the first time following your advice and I think it helped a lot, if only with the mortar sticking better. Cheers !
Mill it and use less water or leave it on wooden boards prior to use but it should be like clay not sloppy. The suction only really removes excess water. Wetting down is for controlling temperatures not reducing suction and can in fact create a faster method of removal for the water. Don't spray down the mortar either, you wet hessian and cover it to create a humid convectionless environment. You can't add water back in.
I'm loving this series man, watching you plug along has been real terrific!
Thanks !
Just wanted to say how excited I am that you are back. I had been wondering if we would ever see more from the cellar. Your efforts have been an inspiration - admittedly every thing I have tackled so far has been on a much smaller scale. Just built an outdoor fireplace a few weeks back (video on my channel) and that was my first time, not pretty, but it works. Keep the videos coming.
Thank you ! I have gotten so much motivation from other youtube projects, i'm happy to add to the mix. Your fireplace looks great !
I recommend you wash the stones in a big plastic basin, after leaving them in water for a little bit (depends on stone type, bricks for example need at least an half an hour until they fully absorb). This lessens the dust, but more importantly makes the mortar stick better to the stone, far better than with just spraying the stone *and* gives the mortar time to set, otherwise, the stone will suck all the water out of it.
It's also kinda like putting wood glue on both pieces of wood you're about to glue.
Crumbly mortar can be a few things, but mostly drying too fast (in my experience). If you used too fine a sand, that's not good either, CO2 needs space to work through the mix and too fine a particle, or clay (unwashed sand) and soil can mess that pathway as well.
IMO, what you can do to make things kosher with your volume of work (which also affects how it fixes) is to make a few samples (where you fix your recipes and write them down). Start with a classic mix, then add a bit more aggregate, more water, spray water after setting, various tests. You don't need big samples, either, like one of those smaller cups of yogurt are perfectly sized to get a good representation (the plastic wall of the cup will also give you a neutral representation of what happens inside the mortar.
I usually do this kind of stuff when i'm unsure of the conditions in which i'm forced to make mortar, otherwise, i go with coarse sand, classic proportions, and like i said, all the non mortar elements (which includes the surface to which they are glued to) are wet in abundance to avoid the water being sucked out. Sidestory, i once forgot to wet the concrete pad on which a pillar support was clad with stones, and ... it basically walked off that concrete pad, despite it being well chipped in advance, which is also something you can do. I use a welding hammer to give it a good score.
Awesome update. Looking forward to see the main stairs being rebuilt, that easily one of the cooler features inside your cellar. :)
Thank you for your input, astute as always ! I didn't have a big tub for the big stones but I tried with the smaller ones. There are things you know you should do, but in the rush and novelty of a job, they just seem to vanish... And I'm a bit wary about putting too much water in the cellar, I will need to find a solution anyway. And you're right I need to make some tests and sample to understand the behaviour better. Thanks for your support, it's greatly appreciated.
@@thevaultedworkshop765 I know how it is, you get into something and everything just flies out of your mind :)). Yeah, i didn't consider the water issue for you, but good point, that much water would upset your efforts in the red.
Well, even if the mortar gives, it's easy to clean (especially if it fails) and with the experience you'll have at the end of this project, you'll know exactly what to do. SO there's no worries there. Saw the new video, you already did way better than before. :)
@@aserta I don't think it dried too quickly(maybe), but it was definitely not mixed well enough as I did it by hand and too eagerly. And also I didn't realised how slowly the lime takes to set, it is not cement, especially in high humidity, low temperature of the cellar. So I, may have mistook crumbliness with not yet set... Now I think it will hold, for a while at least. But everytime I learn something new anyway :). I wetted the stairs way more than I did the first time following your advice and I think it helped a lot, if only with the mortar sticking better. Cheers !
Mill it and use less water or leave it on wooden boards prior to use but it should be like clay not sloppy. The suction only really removes excess water. Wetting down is for controlling temperatures not reducing suction and can in fact create a faster method of removal for the water. Don't spray down the mortar either, you wet hessian and cover it to create a humid convectionless environment. You can't add water back in.
@@corindoyle thank you for the advices !