Lost a whole day to a mortar mix that was too old, $180 down the drain

Bought a pallet of premixed mortar from a supplier in Cleveland last month, didn't check the dates on the bags. Three of them were sitting in a damp corner and had turned into solid chunks. Spent 5 hours trying to break it up with a hammer, finally gave up and had to drive 40 miles for fresh bags. That wasted morning cost me $180 in labor and gas, plus I fell behind on a retaining wall job. Now I check every single bag before I load the truck, no matter how much the supplier pushes me to hurry. Has anyone else had a batch go bad on them like this, or am I the only one who got burned?

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1 Comment

alice33623d ago

Three hours into that job I'd have checked the bags before unloading the pallet, not after. Damp storage is a known killer for mortar, and a quick squeeze test on a corner of each bag catches most of it. Sounds like that supplier owes you a discount on the next order, not a free lesson.