Weak wall cement ??

[hunggaur]

Hi folks we had a dwarf wall build about 2 months ago.

Today I went to drill into the wall to fix a railing to the top of it and found that the mortar seemed to be soft.

So much so that the brick I was drilling (with and sds drill) came lose and I had to chip out the rest out and replace it.

In the centre of the wall the mortar still seemed very soft, damp and crumberly is this normal.

Cheers

Jon

 

[jeds]

The mortar should be hard but that doesn't mean as hard as nails. An sds drill would cut through mortar fairly easily but it definitely should not be crumbly and soft between the fingers. Ask the builder to put it right. If he argues you will need some certain evidence that the mortar is incorrect. That would mean having a piece tested to see exactly what's in it.

 

[tony1851]

No that doesn't seem normal. Mortar in an external free-standing wall should normally be at least something like 1 : 4 1/2 cement: sand.
From what you say, it seems far weaker; probably they skimped on cement.

 

[^woody^]

If you had it built two months ago, then the mortar has possibly frozen when built, and is no good now