Bricklaying with soft washed sand?

[I6leon9i]

I've got some 'soft washed sand' from the local builders merchant and have been using it to lay about 14m2 of brick/blockwork. I've been finding the mortar very difficult to work with, the water seems to come to the top pretty quickly ,and i keep having to mix it with the trowel every time i pick a bit up.

The mix is pretty standard, 1:5 plus a bit of plasticiser, mixed in cement mixer, but I just cannot get the "buttery" texture i was anticipating? Am I wasting my time with this sand??

Th sand is light in colour, yellow perhaps, and pretty fine.

Cheers in advance.

Nick

 

[r896neo]

If its washed its probably plastering sand and so will have little or no 'fat' It will be very unpleasent to lay more than a few blocks with.

More plasticiser might help but if you over dose it the mortar will be very weak.

 

[I6leon9i]

Thanks for the response, do you know what else i can use this for apart from rendering, rather than wasting it?

Sand blinding i suppose, or laying water pipe.

Paving? Weak mix concrete?

 

[^woody^]

Use it for anything but brickwork.

Another problem used that this mortar is very rigid when set, and makes walls liable to crack.

 

[I6leon9i]

Ok, thanks for the info.

Might try blending a sample 50:50 with a proper building sand to see what sort of mix it produces, otherwise it'll be going in the ground one way or another!

 

[r896neo]

Its good for pointing paving. Can be mixed 50:50 with grit/sharp sand for mortar for laying paving on.