Home brew mortar problems

[antwlo]

I have been using Heat Stop so far, and everything was ok. I decided to switch to a home brew mix with ratio of (3:1:1:1) 3 parts sand: 1 part portland cement: 1 part lime: 1 part fireclay.

I mixed everything and did my first application today with the new home brew. Something is wrong!! the mix is not holding together. It's crumbling and not sticking on the firebricks. I made the mix a bit more "liquidy" by adding more water. I just tested an area that dried off, and the bricks came apart and the mix basically crumbled in my hand.

What am I doing wrong?

Please help

[dakzaag]

Try 6;1;1;1 use really fine sand. I like to add more lime and less Portland Why did you switch? maybe the heatstop would be better for you in the long run..

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[thevance53@gmail.com]

should be fine. That is what I am using and it is working great. Make sure you are using the right lime and mortar fireclay. I mix dry ingredients and then add water and mix until slightly creamy. Try a small trial batch? I use a small tuperware bowl and do it by roughly measured parts. Not an exact science for me and seems to work fine. Are you wetting your bricks? I soak the bricks and then mist the receiving bricks so they don't suck the moisture out of the homebrew. Let us know if you figure out the issue.

[antwlo]

My problem was not wetting the bricks first. Once I soaked them, the home brew worked. Thanks for the advice