Bricklaying Tips - Mixing Mortar

I'm going to show you how I mix some mortar The ratio I'm going to use for this mix is 4 to 1 which just means 4 sand to 1 cement 4 parts sand to 1 cement You can do 4 buckets which is what I'm going to do now or you can do 4 of whatever 4 thimble cups 4 pocketfuls 4 barrows as long as you keep the ratio the same 4 to 1 So I've got a mixer here and a bucket here You're going to need your sand obviously and we've got some cement here and this is called a plasticizer and you add this to the mix to make it more workable because if you don't add that to the mix it's a nightmare And it's very sandy and it dries really quickly So right now we've got half a bucket of water and that's it It's a bit messy because there's been some cement on my floor so a couple of glugs of that be generous everyone's like oh you've put too much The first thing I'm going to do is put my sand So a nice generous bucket there Now when you're putting it in lift up and shake half in first and then the rest Now we want to get 2 sand in the first We want to get our cement here Here's a bag I opened earlier I had the cement in halfway around if you know what I mean so I'll put 2 sand in and then I'll put the cement in and then the rest of the sand in the area Now you're going to have to really watch out for dust here I should have a dust mask on but I can't find it It's disappeared Put half in and stand bac We've got some water there Jan Just add little bits of water at a time You don't want to put too much water in otherwise you'll be really struggling because you can't dry it out So always just add small amounts of water at a time So we've added half a bucket of our cement we need to do the full one now Now we've got 2 full buckets of sand and 2 full buckets of cement So we'll let that mix for a bit let it turn over This is our third bucket bend your knees Try to get the water at the back of the mixer A tip for you as well to make your life easier is to make sure your mixer is on level ground because if it's leaning back all the sand gets stuck at the back of the mixer And it's not mixing on the blades properly and to help it mix sometimes you can put it on a brick put these back feet on the bric The more level the mixer is the better the mix goes So that's a handy little tip for you expertise mixing knowledge So we're looking good it's turning over okay I'm going to add a couple more glugs of this just for good measure because it's not the best you can get I've run out of it but you can get another plasticiser It's more concentrated than this and what you do is you squeeze the bottle and put a little cap in but this one will do for now Right we're nearly ready for our flight last bucket bend your knees bend your knees I'm not sparing the mixer either like I've done in previous videos I don't condone that at all you could lose your fingers your arms or whatever just use buckets it's easier and let the mixer do the work don't be putting spades So we're getting there boys and girls this mixer by the way I've had it for a very long time it's actually KC who got it for me it's been brilliant Don't hit the mixer with shovels and hammers just keep them clea I know it's been worn it's had a couple of taps here and there but people start whacking them with hammers just misusing them So you look after it it'll look after you I've changed the switch once at the back that's it Anyway we're looking good let's have a look at the mixer That is looking good That is the kind of consistency we want Now you see I noticed when you're stopping a mixer make sure you stop it so the blades are on the left and right so that's our mix and that's the consistency we're looking for ce and bonny lovely jubbly The working times of your cement depend on the weather it's really hot today so as soon as you get it out of the mixer and it's on the boards You've really limited your time you've got to be fast otherwise you keep having to add water and stir it up there's many different ratios of mixes you can do This is just the basic one the standard one which is most commonly used in bricklaying There 's actually a few videos out there with lime based mixes that's if you're doing stonework The general idea is never to mix mortar that's stronger than the material you're working with right guys that's good enough for us lovely jubbly Thanks a lot for watching guys I'll see you in the next one I'm carrying on with this build by the way I've got a lot of brickwork to do I should send you a video in a few days thanks for watching