How to make a cement mortar

In many homes, the surface of the walls is far from ideal, and often you have to align them, for example, before gluing wallpaper. Today, the offer of a variety of leveling compounds on the market is very large, which is good news. But the price for mortars does not suit everyone. To level the floor and walls of a small room, sometimes more than 15 bags of dry mix are needed. Agree, this is not cheap. This is where cement comes to the rescue, and since childhood we all know the familiar sand. Before embarking on decisive batching operations, it is still necessary to study how to properly make a cement mortar of the required quality.

It is important to know

Storage of cement

Like any building material Cement has a shelf life. Consider that cement is extremely afraid of moisture. It is recommended to store it in a dry place. Only in this case, the cement will be able to retain its properties for six months. But it is best to buy it literally before use, so that the cement during long storage could not absorb the moisture contained in the air or in any nearby source of moisture.

If you need to make repairs in a high-humidity room, use for this purpose a hydrophobic cement that is not afraid of contact with water.

The brand of cement determines such a parameter as the strength of the mortar (its ability to withstand the compressive load, which is measured in kg per cm²).

Types of cement mortar

Types of cement mortar

Cement mortars are as follows species: fatty, normal, skinny. The quality of the solution can be determined using the paddle, which is used to knead the solution.

Skinny. There is a lot of aggregate in the solution, so it is not very convenient in operation and does not have high strength. The resulting solution does not stick to the oar, but only stains.

Normal. This solution contains a sufficient amount of binder and aggregate. The mixed solution adheres to the oar in separate bunches.

Bold. In solution, the binder is in excess, so it cracks when it freezes. Cement mortar quite envelops the paddle.

Typically, the binders are added to a lean solution, and the aggregate is added to a greasy one.

Preparation of the solution

To achieve the best quality of the batch, all materials are sieved through a sieve. To prepare a cement mortar suitable for plastering, it is necessary to use a sieve with small cells (5x5 mm), for performing stone work - with larger cells (10x10 mm).

First, you need to prepare a dry mix (depending on the type of cement, 2.5-6 parts of sand are required per part), and only then you will mix the mortar. If you have cement grade 200, you need to add 3.5 parts of sand to one part of the cement. For grade 400, keep the cement: sand ratio of 1: 5. Used sand should not have any extraneous inclusions and impurities. You can prepare the mixture in a bucket or box, but it is better to do this on a wooden board. Load cement into the container with sand in layers: first a layer of sand, then cement. Such a layered download will help you to make a quality solution.

Building sand

When mixing the mortar, it is necessary to observe the exact dosing of materials and water using weights and special dishes So, the process of cement mortar preparation is as follows:

• as mentioned above, cement and sand are poured in layers in the form of a bed, about 200-300 mm high,
• , the resulting bed shut with water,
• everything is mixed several times with an oar (shovel) until a homogeneous mass is obtained,
• the resulting mixture is sieved through a thick sieve with cells of at least 3x3 mm.

In the case of an excess of water, you may get a liquid solution, which after drying will not be as strong as a thick solution of a similar composition.

If the mixture is prepared correctly, then it will result in a homogeneous composition of the solution, which should be consumed within one and a half hours. When calculating the required amount of cement mortar, it is important to consider the moisture content of the sand, because the solution mixed with dry sand retains its consumer qualities for three hours. And if the used sand is very wet, then the prepared solution must be consumed within one hour - the cement and too wet mixture smoothly decreases the strength and binding properties.

Use of cement mortar

Cement mortars are often used in laying foundations and other structures. They are also used for laying and leveling walls, for floor screed.Cement surfaces are quite durable and smooth, but at the same time very cold.

By adjusting the amount of binder and aggregate, you can get the cement mortar of the desired quality to perform a particular type of construction work.

Video

Features of preparing cement mortar for masonry in video format: