Laying bricks in cold weather

[elsmore1]

Hi All,
I am building a conservatory base and have build the strip footing before xmas and have a hardcore centre and need to build a 3 course wall and then fill with concrete.

I am concerned about the cold weather I laid the concrete ok and it seems to be solid I covered with hessain and it did not frost until 2nd 3rd night so it was quite set and I could see no frost on it at all. I laid a few bricks about 16 between 10 and 1 o'clock on new years day I think and it was sunny but cold it frosted at night but again I covered with hessain, but the mortar is still a bit soft amnd I can scrape with ny fingernails!
The bricks wont move when I try to move them and did step on one by mistake but i am concerend that it should be solid by the 3rd day.

It did not have any frost on it at all but it has been cold and no sunshine at back of house. I mixed 4 sand to 1 cement and used a plasticiser from builders maerchants. Will I need to remove and re do or leave longer, also not sure when I will ever be able to build again until March perhaps, or maybe just avoid the frost. i did cover the bricks as soon as i laid them to protect them.

Many Thanks for advice

 

[jm2000]

As long as you put the cement in it should go off. Dont lay in the frost wait until later in the day. and then cover very well.

It may take longer to go off...but it will do.

 

[Chukka63]

Its suppose to be 3 and rising before laying bricks,however plenty of people do but you must prevent the frost getting into the mortar well after youve laid them.Not sure how hard the frosts have been on the south coast but its been quite severe here so because of that i wouldnt lay bricks at the moment.Your bricks may appear fine for several days/weeks if we keep getting frosts and one day you may find the frost has hit them harder than you were aware.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Ideally brick laying should not be done if the temp is 3 degrees c or below, 4 degrees c and rising is the guidelines.
So wait until you have them temps or you could well be wasting your time, then wrap the wall up.
It will also help if you ad plasticisers and frost prevention admixtures.

 

[WabbitPoo]

It would also help if you used some punctuation in your text - I gave up reading, if I'm honest.

 

[elsmore1]

thank you all for the replies, the mortar is quite hard now But I will leave until temps go up a bit. sorry about puntuation I wrote this a bit hurried and wrote too much also.

the hessian has protected bricks from frost as I have checked each day.

regards

 

[r896neo]

Does no one here use rapid-hardener/frostproofer in mortar? Just curious really for anyones experience with it?

 

[noseall]

Does no one here use rapid-hardener/frostproofer in mortar? Just curious really for anyones experience with it?

I am of the opinion that cement needs a certain amount of time to cure to reach peak hardness and durability. If you force this process with chemicals then i think there is a price to pay.

I may be wrong......

 

[Chukka63]

frost proofer is frost proofer not frost preventer.used it in the past and you still need to cover the wall.its not a miracle cure im afraid.
we were forced to lay bricks ona site years ago when we were on the books.we froze our armpits off.a few daysweeks later they crumbled to nothing.that will teach the dimwit we thought.
sit indoors in the warm on the pooter till the slightly warmer weather.

 

[r896neo]

i realise it is a compromise but how do they ever build in the alps or other places with most of the year around our current temp.

I know they probably don't build masonary for 3/4 months of the year when its too bad but as with so many things when you are used to it, its probably not such a big deal? I can sort of imagine guys building there reading this and laughing ... oh those stupid english pigs ... haw he haw.... fire in another bucket of cemento rapido and pass me those frogs legs.....

 

[heliart]

I've had good success using Cementone concentrated frost proofer.
Used this for a lot of post setting in January when it was very cold, and been using it this week for building a block wall.
Sure, I always cover the work before the sun goes down, using old blankets etc.

 

[mointainwalker]

@r896neo ( if you're still interested )

Here in the French Alps there is no special technique except ......................... planning.

Depending on the altitude, groundworks can usually start in March/April and concrete pouring in April/ May.

Contrary to what you might think, air temperatures of 15 C- 20 C will be normal in April, although I've never tried to measure soil temperature.

So basically it's necessary to either have
a) a raw-shell or
b) roof and windows minimum by November

and if b) then carry on until bad weather forces a retreat.



By the way, the rest of the year is usually very agreeable with temps of 18C - 25 C and usually lots of sunshine so very agreeable for building and eating steak with a nice red ( eating frog's legs very bad for the environment you see ! )

 

[r896neo]

Thanks mountain i was still interested!

I worked with a guy who built for a few years in andorra and he said they threw the stuff in liberally, he's pretty old though and a former english teacher, so prone to slight embelishment