My old way of mixing mortar was costing me time and money

I used to just dump the whole bag in the mixer and add water until it looked right, which wasted a ton of material. About three months ago, a guy on a job in Tacoma showed me how to measure the water first, then slowly add the mix to hit the perfect consistency every time. Now I use exactly what I need, and my cleanup is way faster. Anyone else have a simple trick that saved them a bunch of material?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena8862mo ago

Yeah, that water-first method is a game changer. I started using a cheap bucket with gallon marks on the side to be even more precise, cuts down waste even more.

christopher_kim2mo ago

Nice, I switched to a marked pitcher for the same reason.

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richardk266d ago

Oh man, I gotta say that marked bucket idea is solid but just a heads up - those gallon marks on cheap plastic buckets can be pretty off sometimes. I learned that the hard way when I measured out 5 gallons for a mix and ended up with a way different consistency than usual. Turns out the bucket was actually holding closer to 4.8 gallons where it said 5. If you're using those buckets, it's worth checking the marks against a real measuring tool first. Otherwise you're still guessing a bit, just with fancier lines.