Saw a crew in Phoenix mixing their mortar way too wet for a retaining wall.

The slump was over 6 inches, looked like soup. That's gonna crack for sure once it sets. Anyone else see this a lot on big jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

beth_reed2mo ago

Oh man, that's a total disaster waiting to happen. @lunag30 is right, it's basically a sandcastle mix. I watched a crew do the same thing on a foundation pour last year, and the inspector shut them down hard. That watery junk just bleeds out and leaves all the weak spots, so the whole thing is useless. It's crazy they still try it.

tylerj222mo ago

That slump is a huge red flag, but the real problem might be the rebar. Super wet mix doesn't bond to steel right. You get zero composite action, so the wall is just loose rocks held by weak paste. It'll fail at the first big load, not just crack. Seen it cause full collapses.

lunag302mo ago

Honestly, "full collapses" sounds like they're building a sandcastle, not a retaining wall.