LIME or PORTLAND, what should I use?? (Mike Haduck)

Lime vrs. portland, I show thru my experience what cement I use and where, A lot has to do with what your doing, weather and situations, All my videos are my ways and ideas, I always suggest anyone doing any type of work to consult professional help.

[juligrlee]

One of the most educational videos on masonry work ever

[johndeggendorf]

Mike…outstanding education, sir…30 minutes well spent, without a wasted breath. 🤔☕️🎩🎩🎩

[sixtyfiveford]

Started watching thinking "no way am I going to sit through 30minutes". I was wrong and you have so much good info in this video. Thanks.

[jam]

You condensed what could take someone years of self teaching and seeking to figure out and made a wonderful 30 minute lesson out of it Mike, thanks for the video!

[MMGJ]

I just want to point out that at 26:00, the brick were destroyed but the mortar remained. That brick only lasted 50 years? And frankly it's all destroyed.
Whereas, the early 1900's buildings with lime mortar are 120+ years old, and need repointed and some brick replaced.
A water table would have helped tremendously on those early buildings..
(Lime mortar is a great mortar, I what I'm getting at. But straight Portland for ground contact is a must, or at least Type S.

I'm a mason like Mr. Madduck, but he's got about 30 more years experience..lol. I live in western PA, he lives in Eastern PA. Same weather.
I do lots of small repair work, same as him, after 20 years in mostly new construction.

Stoops and chimneys are the absolute worst with a lot of the modern-ish "cheap" brick.
I've had to repair so many.

Many times the old timers used incredibly hard mortar, which magnified the problem.
Plus...Portland is a hydraulic cement. It forces the water to go through the brick instead of through the mortar, then freezing and expansion destroys the brick, instead of the much easier to repair mortar..
Lime mortar also repairs itself and re-calcifies..

[samwinglewich]

I'm a landscaping contractor near San Francisco and concrete/masonry can get intimidating for me. I love how you explain the history and all the little details that I always wondered about, but were hard to find. It's hard to find great mentors let alone one who wants to teach a young guy. Thanks all the great content and helping me make stronger and better things for my clients!

[Icarus]

Mike….
Master Carpenter, General Contractor here of 40 years .
Brilliant video. What an honor it is to be schooled by you . How enlightening it is to be educated by a master. Thank you so much …. I can’t wait to see what you will teach us next …we are all grateful for your proficiency/mastery
Cheers
Garrett
Minneapolis

[aidan-ator]

The most important thing for wall longevity (stone or brick)is that the roof of your house hangs over at least two metres away from the exterior walls around the entire house so that the rain and sun never hit the exterior walls at all. I have seen 150 year old stone houses that have no mortar falling out and the stone work remains in place and I am talking about mortar made of lime and clay earth mixed with small stones. The lime stops mildew and mold but the clay/lime mortar though not the strongest works perfectly well since the walls do not get hit by rain and the humidity in the walls does not fluctuate much.

[annamc]

Hey, Mike! I started building a pretty crappy 2' high rock foundation. Thanks to your videos, its a bit less crappy!

[rameye]

Thanks Mike I have a late 1800's house on the New England coast, brick over dry stacked stone, lots of brick spall and mortar MIA... Your explanation of the situation was insightful and much appreciated.

[Laguna]

This finally has helped me to understand why my old school German brick house has a large layer of stone below the brick. Looks 'busy', but I see the purpose now thank you.

[Psymonthedude]

Mike, this channel is a true treasure 😊 Amazing to see you using examples from around the world.
Greeting from Denmark

[deaconlight]

Thanks for all the deep knowledge of masonry, Mike! Another incredible and insightful video. Much appreciated 👍🏼

[T.E.P.]

your videos are absolutely priceless. one of my favorite qualities about your channel is you consistently review the art of masonry ... thanks Mike!

[Bricky-gslp]

One of the traits of the lime is that if it gets wet it swells enough to close the tiny cracks in the mortar so that it will not absorb water. Lime mortar does not stick to the brick or the stone and that is where the water gets in at. The lime over time gives up and all you really have left is the sand. to day there is hydrated lime and you can get unhydrated lime. The mixing of the portland and the lime works well but I agree that the mortar should not be as strong as the product you are building with be it any kind of brick or stone. If the mortar is to strong the bricks will crack instead of the mortar allowing movement. All brick and mortar walls leak to some extent. In today's construction flashings are used to allow that moisture to get out of the wall with flashing and weep vents. In today's construction type S is used on most structural block walls because of the amount of rebar and grout used to fill the voids in the blocks. A typical Wal Mart store in my area will be built with 12" concrete block with vertical rebar every 24"s and horizontal rebar every 4' in height all of that grouted solid with grout made from 3/8 or less pea gravel, sand and portland cement. This stuff is extremely strong. there is also wire reinforcing like in this video everyl 16" in height. The amount of sand in the mix helps in making the mortar stronger but it also affects the workability of the mortar. To much sand and the mortar will not stick to the mason's trowel, to little and the mix gets to sticky and the mason can not get it off his trowel. The portland is what gives the mortar strength. Type N or 50 50 will still make mortar so hard that you can not drive a line pin into it when it is a month old. There is much to say about these subjects and like Mike geography and experience will teach a lot. I am in the St.Louis Missouri area and know full well what freeze and thaw can do. The architecture in St. Louis has a very large amount of turn of the century homes and buildings made from bricks. PBS television has a great documentary on the history of brick in St. Louis. Some of those old bricks sell for more than new ones.

[Genologic]

Love the videos, Mike. Keep them coming!

[rafaelmarin]

You sir, are a library of knowledge. Master of your craft.

[stevenandrews]

Excellent post Mike! Really helpful. Your channel has very quickly become my most helpful of late. I just completed the rebuild of my son's brick chimney and it looks awesome. It is all because of the information you've passed onto people through this channel. Contactors wanted $7500.00 to do this job. My son and I completed it for $1100.00. Two of the guys who bid on the job came by today and commented on the quality of the completed job. They both asked who did the work. When I told them, they didn't believe a machinist and a retired 1st responder could have done it. My son's neighbors confirmed that 2 D.I.Y.ers did in fact do it. It took us a lot longer than a Mason would have but we did it and it was all because of the things I learned watching your channel. Thank you so very much for sharing your skills and experience. 👋🇨🇦👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[nicholasmarshall]

Mike is so helpful. Thank you. Using "Masonwork" to understand the different mortar contents is great. I will no longer have to scratch my head when looking at the different bags of mortar at the blue or orange stores.

[NEDERLAM]

To the point with no BS….thank you for producing these great videos. You are helping us build stuff the right way.