In fact, I didn't trust volume measurements and instead looked of the weight of 5.3 quarts of water at 62F and it was virtually exactly 11lb, and that's what I added (measuring with a kitchen scale), but something went wrong, I couldn't butter any blocks with it and I know you're supposed to be able to do that. I guess I have some things that would help in that. The instructions said covering with plastic would help retain moisture. I have taken a hand operated sprayer with water and misted the mortar joints around 10 times already in the 3 or so hours since I finished the job. Day temperatures will likely be up to 75 F and nighttime temperatures down to maybe 58-59F. I have no control over the temperature out there in the detached garage or outside of it. It says to maintain proper moisture and temperature. The instructions say I have to cure the mortar or the project won't be a success. I doubt mine will be like that.Figure it will me like sand, like a lot of the mortar in my house's brick walls that needs to be re-pointed. The garage has two walls that are solid cinder blocks and whoever laid them got the mortar right, it's like rock. I finally got it all done but now I have little optimism that the mortar will set. I wasn't able to butter the sides of cinder blocks or toppers, the stuff would just fall off. I figured I better stop adding water and just do the job with what I had. I added a little more water, it still just fell right off the trowel. Mine never got to that consistency, nothing like it. I saw an online video or two that said the mortar when properly prepared should hang on the side of a trowel when held vertically and not fall off. I didn't want to rely on my sense of what an appropriate consistency might be, I just don't know. I was paranoid I'd screw up, so I was super careful to use the _right_ amount of water. The instructions are to use 5.3 quarts water with the 80lb. I bought the bag of mortar only a few days ago at Home Depot, so freshness was probably not an issue. It might not harden properly unless everything's just right. I have virtually no experience with mortar, but I realize that it can be problematical in the same way as grout can be problematical. I watched a bunch of videos and read the instructions for the Sakrete Mortar Mix Type S 80lb. I figured I pretty much had to do it as fast as possible using one 80lb sack of mortar mix before it went bad. Today was the day to do the cinder block work. So, I scuttled the plan to lay down concrete and instead worked up a plan to build the cinder block wall as the needed extension to complete the foundation before reframing and applying siding. I was going to build forms and lay down some concrete when I realized that the space next to the remaining portion of the two courses of cinder blocks was just the right size to accommodate an extension 3 1/2 cinder blocks long in two courses (one on top of the other) with toppers capping the two courses. So, to repair the wall I have to supply something in place of the missing portion of foundation (due to water intrusion from rains. Someone decided that they wanted a door in that wall and they removed 3 1/2 cinder blocks, you can see where they tore them off of the concrete. My take now is that 1/2 the foundation for that side wall was cinder blocks in two courses with toppers. I have been dealing with a bum wall in my garage and am at the stage where I needed to fix a missing portion of the foundation.
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