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What is Mortar?

Answer:
Mortar is a mixture of sand, cement or lime, and water.

The cement or lime acts as a binder, making mortar easy to spread while wet. Mortar is used between bricks, stones or cement blocks when constructing structures with those building materials.

Mortar has been in use for centuries, although it has undergone some changes in ingredients. Early Babylonians used slime or pitch for mortar when building with baked clay bricks and blocks. The Egyptian pyramids were thought to be constructed with a gypsum or lime based mortar. Greek aqueducts were constructed using a mortar which was likely the first "hydraulic cement" (i.e., hardens under water), as it contained volcanic ash in a lime binder, which offered that special property.

Modern mortar is usually made with Portland cement, sand and water. Portland cement is the most common binder in use today, including in most concrete mixes. Portland cement is made by grinding "clinker" (a type of slag from cement kilns). It is similar to the volcanic ash used by the Greeks, in that it is has hydraulic properties.

When professional masons are at work assembling a brick or block wall, it is a special treat to watch them slap the mortar loosely onto each piece and place it into its spot, gently tapping it with the handle of the trowel in hand.

Although it seems a slow method for constructing large buildings, mortars of various kinds have allowed many exceedingly large structures to stand strong for centuries.


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