which mortar to use

[woody234]

im planning on building an extension to the house, does anybody know what type of motar i should use between the bricks and can i buy it ready made from somewhere like pointp or mrbricolage

[Gyn_Paul]

You can buy sacks of ready-mixed mortar for brick and block-laying in most of the bricos, however, if you are building a whole extension this way you would need so many that it would pay for a builder to do the work for you!

Find your local builders merchant and get them to deliver you a truck of soft sand and several bags of cement (sable fine et ciment gris), much cheaper.

 How much do you need ?  Talk to the people there and explain the size of the project, and they willl advise accordingly.

get yourself either a tame osteopath or an electric betonnier.

paul

[Anton Redman]

Using 100 mm Blockwork single skin 10 mm beds a cubic metre of mortar lays 1400  block = 140 square metres. A cubic metre of mortar in a 5 to 1 mix requires 1000 litresof sand say 1.6 tonnes  and 200 litres 280 kilogrammes of cement.  There is no advantage in  buying pre mixed unless you are only using a couple of bags. Otherwise you are buying expensive sand. I buy a trailor load from the quarry.

Although they are both written for the UK market.  Mark Brinkley 'The House Builders Bible' and Charlotte Baden Powel 'The Architect's Pocket Book' are well worth a read. 

Have you decided on you foundations and what floor insulation you will be using ?

 

[woody234]

thanks for replys, im thinking of using them durox blocks, there 62cm long and 22cm high so will need less mortar than small bricks