Damp misty days – Often seen around autumn, These conditions are the gold standard for me. In the smaller picture you can see that the large gaps will provide much better adhesion, once the mortar hardens into the nooks and crannies. Search Products. Developed in conjunction with roofing professionals for a reliable and durable product that supports roof applicators' product quality guarantees. Sharp sand, or washed sand as it is often known fits the bill here. Or very occasionally 1  Wash sand, 1 Building sand, and 1 Cement. Whiel spills and splashes aren’t a major problem, the mix is quite stiff. We stock & supply mortar dye in red, black and brown for the permanent colouration of all types of mortars, rendering, pointing and concrete, as well as Mastercrete cement and Remix pre-mixed roof tile bedding mortar, conveniently mixed in two colours for bedding verges and ridge on roofing projects. All tiles except Plain tiles – 2 parts soft sand, 1 part sharp sand and 1 part cement. The main benefits are that the mortar becomes more workable with a trowel and flows better allowing it to squeeze into finer details whilst using less water. Mortar should not be stronger than the material that you are working with as a rule of thumb. Safety Data Sheet This may well cut short the life of the pointing unless an excellent key is made, possibly leaving re-bedding as a more sensible option. In such a case the recommendation is M30, that’s 1 portion of cement, 0.75 portion of sand, and 1.5 portion of aggregate. PILOT® – Plastic Roofing Cement is an asphalt based pliable plastic roofing cement used on damp as well as dry surfaces. Assumption is that you are referring to the roof slab on a concrete building. When a ridge or hip tile is bedded onto the roof, the thickness of the mortar bed determines how high the ridge tile will sit above the roof tiles, the bigger the distance is between the ridge and the roof, the more mortar mass it will take to fill the gap. Here are two videos of how to mix a cement mortar. Normal warm dry weather – Slightly overcast or weak sun, no showers, not too hot, and not freezing. Sunny hot weather – This can be as bad as constant rain for some jobs. Visit us today for the widest range of Cement Products products. Here the large mass that is the ‘Flaunching’ to hold the pot in place has been done with standard building sand. Often though, mortar has to be used on a roof in a larger mass, this could be large gaps in brickwork for pointing, deep wide chases, or re-laying ridge tiles onto a thick bed of mortar or onto small profiled roof tiles. For most applications, the topping mix should consist of 65mm (2 ½ inches) of 1:4 sharp sand/cement by volume screed laid over the set vermiculite concrete. Always a problem – A good mortar mix with fine and coarse particles, cement additive for increased bond, a nice key and a cool day. Another roofer, builder, plasterer or renderer may have their own opinions, or other great nuggets to share particular to their trade. In the case of working on a roof this can mean sitting ridge tiles in bucket of water for 5 minutes before use and wetting the surface of the roof where the tiles will mate repeatedly with a bucket of water and a wet brush, or a hand held water sprayer. A bit like making a cup of tea could be if you did the same. (more cement additives further down). QUIKRETE Roof Tile Mortar is a preblended mortar designed to be a primary or secondary attachment system for roof tiles. If you use pure quick drying cement in the usual ratio of 3 : sand and 1 : cement (quick dry) it may result in a mix that dries in 10 – 15 mins, so fast that even in very cold conditions you get very little time to use it. HENRY HE208R042 Gal Patch Roof Cement. Unfortunately, some profiled roof tiles require a very thick bedding of mortar, so to reduce the risk of cracking, sharp sand should be introduced to the mix for most tiles. Features: Meets South Florida and Metro-Dade Building Code requirements for high profile Tile Metro-Dade 03-0407.01 Make sure that your sand is suitable for the task in hand, keep your mortar fresh and in good condition, and don’t allow your substrate to be too dry if possible. The repairs were largely in cement and would have needed repairing again had we not lifted and replaced the tiles/slates. If however you climb ladders or scaffolding to point up let’s say some ridge tiles, and then lovingly take your time, pressing the mortar firmly home whilst concentrating on a nice aesthetic finish, it will probably crack and fall off within 6 months to a year. A ‘key’ – Here you can see the depth that the cement mortar has receded, if you can poke your fingers in 5 – 10mm + often that would be considered a large enough gap to accept fresh mortar and provide ‘a good key’ without additional measures, such as grinding out the old mortar with a chasing tool. Some stones are large 25mm+, some stones are much smaller, grit is also an element, and finally finishing with fine grain sand to bond it all together. If I do have any large scale mortar work to be done, a cold spell may mean I would sit on that job and wait for the weather to improve, although with small repair work I will often speed up the cure with fast drying cement during the warmest part of the day. The small picture shows the exact same thing in an old wall. Bucket Mix – Everyone should know how to do one of these, it’s simple, cheap and useful. it also features gravel or other similar course material. The truth is most of it is just really common sense, it just looks like a big list when written down. A good technique to use is often to wet the substrate repeatedly with water. All building sands are not created equal. All rounder – Evo-Stik Seriously Better Cement – This is great. Obviously we don’t bond mortar to plastic as a general rule in the building trade, but a situation where a bad substrate may arise could be the following…. How much cement in a roof mortar mix. © 2020 Fixmyroof.co.uk - Privacy & Disclosures - Contact. Plasticiser – Febmix , there’s a good reason it’s referred to as the original… its been around ages and it works. The trouble is often the building sand has been processed and all the jagged irregular shaped particles have been removed, or it may contain elements of silt or clay that haven’t been washed out either. More often than not they wrongly assume the mix was too weak, or too strong. Other important factors for good quality mortar are listed below…. I cement additives myself especially in winter to guard against light frosts, but I would not rely on them 100%. Sharp sand – Sometimes, when for instance flaunching the top of a chimney stack or bedding tiles or slates to a Verge, a large mass of very strong and weather resistant mortar is required. I know bricklayers have occasionally sat their bricks in a plastic bath filled with water just before laying to let the water absorb as much as possible into porous bricks. Great for brickwork, chimneys or roof details like flashings. It should have the consistency of heavy cream. This is also true for other jobs like gaps in paving slabs, although the depth may need to be deeper. Roof covered after cement mix-up 24 April 2020 A woman who identified her roofing as “cement tiles” from a list of options has had a hail damage claim upheld by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) following a dispute over the accuracy of the description. Alternatively, a monolithic screed A sandy substrate can occur very often with brickwork or ridge tiles. roof tile cement mix, Find Quality roof tile cement mix and Buy roof tile cement mix from Reliable Global roof tile cement mix Suppliers from mobile site on m.alibaba.com. 95. These of course are my personal tips learnt over the years, or gleamed from others in the trade, both success and failure have shaped this article. Often a good key with ridge tiles will mean that you have visible gaps between both the ridges tiles where they touch each other, or the ridges and the roof itself. Let’s take a look at some important factors that will directly affect the quality, bond, and longevity of your mortar or roofing mortar. Well over 90% of these had cement dye used in them on the roof that was starting to crumble. I can’t say whether this is installer error or product fault, but I don’t use them in my projects unless specifically instructed to. But of course it would be almost impossible to work it using a trowel, or lay any bricks with. bond. Plasticises, improves bond and frost proofs all in one. Rain and showers – There’s a lot of this type of weather in the UK. BLACK JACK® All-Weather Roof Cement is a pliable asphalt roof cement that can be used on damp as well as dry surfaces. The main reason for using quick drying cement in roofing is to avoid inclement weather like rain showers or impeding frost, in which case it can be a real boon if your back is to the wall. I cannot say for sure that it weakens the mix prematurely, and would probably be sued if I did. What happens is that not only has the brick or tile become very dry making it absorb water like a sponge, but the hot sun and ambient heat evaporates the water away from it and into the air, leaving it thirsty for more water, and so on. Cracks in ridge tile cement – I know this is nitpicking, but it illustrates the principle perfectly. Common building sand, often referred to as a ‘soft building sand’ may make the mortar nice to use for trowel work, and it can often feel a bit like mud, so it sticks to a trowel great. Water is also added to the mix to activate the cement and make the whole mixture harden; Concrete: Although concrete uses similar base materials to mortar (cement, sand etc….) Sometimes work schedules or a long hot summer (occasionally they do happen) means that work has to press on regardless. Many frost proofers alone are not yet recognised by British or European building standards, this doesn’t mean they don’t work… Just saying. Any sort of dampness in the bricks or tiles that would normally help to slow down the cure of the mortar is now long gone, and you have the opposite effect, a super dry moisture sucking substrate that will rob your mortar of its water content prematurely and suck dry it. Chimney Flaunching – This is a good example of the wrong mix for the job. Make sure you wear all necessary safety gear, like helmets, gloves, boots, and more. Sometimes on a nice winters day it can be deceivingly warm, and well above 5º C, but remember winter days are much shorter, and when the sun drops, so do the temperatures. If you were to rule out all mortar related jobs on all showery days, most professional roofers would have a huge backlog of work, and angry customers. Yes, you now have the perfect conditions for a nice tan, and with the radio on and a cup of tea in hand life has never been better. The mix we used for the first layer was a 1:1 of water and acrylic, and then mix in your portland cement. It has a great list of positives but will reduce your working time to about 10 – 15 Minutes at a time. No cement no matter how strong will stick to this substrate. Only 4 left in stock - order soon. Waterproofer – If you’re looking for a waterproofing agent for mortar, have a look at ‘Sika Waterproofer’. I have know builders to sieve their own sand by hand, and even ‘turn’ washed sand dry in a cement mixer for 10 – 15 minutes to knock some of the particles smaller or smoother. This is a beginners guide to pointing up. Lets take re-laying ridge tiles as a prime example, the ridge tiles and the roof tiles will have a fine surface water on them, and if the tiles are old and slightly surface porous the concrete will be damp internally too. Asphalt Shingles Roofing Asphalt shingles are top selection for commercial or residential roofing.Make your roof beautiful and protective with an inexpensive option than other roofing shingles. Understand the gravity of the project and take the necessary safety precautions. In this article I’m going to tell you how to mix a simple cement based mortar with standard off the shelf building sands, make it strong, resistant to cracking, and get it to stick. What this means is the tiles will not want to suck moisture from any mortar it contacts with. Yes, finally we’re getting somewhere. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Mixing cement mortar is easy, however mixing a mortar that will stay stuck to what you’re doing is a whole new thing. Typically they may have done small repair works around the home like pointing gaps in crazy paving, only to find it has cracked or crumbled on them at a later stage. Check out our range of Roof Tile Pointing products at your local Bunnings Warehouse. To overcome any potential segregation that has occurred during transit, thoroughly mix the maxi bag contents before use. A blend of cement, sand and high quality additives designed for all aspects of bedding ridges, barges and apexes on tiled roofs. Spot mix – A simple mix on a plastic re-usable mixing spot. You can get special forms of roofing cement that can be laid down effectively even on a wet surface, though the “regular” style adheres best to dry surfaces only. If you’re using this in any capacity it normally means you are a professional, by that I mean that time is money and you can’t wait, or it’s an emergency. A dry substrate more often than not occurs during the summer months in the UK. You can change the type of aggregate used with the cement to form other common mixes, apart from a building sand mortar mix if you wish, such as sharp sand or ballast to form a screed or concrete. Glazed substrates are what they sound like, if the surface is glazed or fired smooth any minute roughness in the surface is normally lost. This means a mix made with a standard building sand with small fine particles in a large dollop, will want to shrink and crack as it cures. Normally when working with a sand and cement mortar this would mean something with as little flex and movement as possible, preferably with a rough or porous  surface to provide the cement with some grip. As we are using rock sand it will take more time to cure cement as concrete. This will be self-supporting. As a rule of thumb anything below 5 degrees centigrade and you are asking for trouble with mortar or concrete. Mixing quick drying cement – This is also a favoured tool of landscapers, particularly when added to a concrete mix for sinking wooden or concrete posts for fencing. If we’re talking about common roofing jobs like pointing a chimney, laying ridge tiles or flaunching the top of a chimney, I would recommend a … Cold weather – Late autumn and winter in the UK. In the case of pointing ridge tiles not only will the fresh mortar not bond to the sandy face properly, but often the sand will get between the roof surface and mortar making that bond to the surface of the roof ineffective. Wetting the bricks or tiles you are working with repeatedly with a hand held water sprayer can be an option on certain jobs, but on very hot days the surface temperatures can be too great for this to be effective. What I will say is that over my extensive roofing career, I have been to repair the roofs of a disproportionate amount of new build houses that are either just outside of the NHBC guarantees, or have had failures within them. Modern roof cement will NOT contain asbestos. Floor compound is a useful cement based levelling compound, used to even out uneven floors of up to 50mm in a single coat. With brickwork, like the pointing of a wall or chimney, an old sandy mix will compromise the bond between the top surface of the bricks and the old mortar itself. Are there any special values on roof cement & patches? Gorilla Waterproof Patch & Seal Tape 4" x 10' Black, (Pack of 1) 4.4 out of 5 stars 7,370. The correct mix ratio is 3 parts sand to 1 part cement, this is much stronger than bricklayers use (5-1) as the cement on the roof must withstand more driving rain than a typical brick wall. Never stop learning. If you think of a plastic surface as a very bad example of a substrate, initially it may provide a bond to the mortar, but when it dries and you were to flex the plastic in any way it would quickly peel off and fall to the floor. the brickwork or roof tiles. The mix wants to be pretty liquid for this first coat, so that it penetrates (but doesn’t fall through) the fabric. Let’s take the re-bedding of ridge tiles onto a roof as a prime example. Because of the low temperature you may want to add a cement additive with frost protection, or mix a curing accelerant in with the mortar, although be aware many anti freeze additives are not recognised by British or European building standards. It’s not cheap but is highly rated by the trade. This denser topping layer distributes floor loadings and prevents surface damage and abrasion. I know you may be thinking does anyone really go to this much trouble over sand for goodness sake? But on showery days it can be possible to work with sand and cement for small repair work, such as re-setting a ridge tile or two, or small patch pointing jobs. A dry surface like bricks or concrete tiles will draw moisture from your mortar (sucking off), and this in normal conditions may be bearable. Consider the use of a hand held water sprayer on any surfaces you are attempting to bond the mortar to on roofing jobs. This is a subject I have touched on above. An example of this would be for instance if we were doing a small bucket mix with a brick layers trowel… 1 third trowel of quick drying, 2 thirds standard OPC and three full trowels of sand, which still gives a ratio of 3 to 1, but depending on the weather a drying and working time of 20 mins +. Monolithic screed on the other hand, it ’ s a good idea to try the and. Stop wear like this is nitpicking, but it illustrates the principle perfectly the principle perfectly to allow working... 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