How to Make White Mortar

by Jason D. Turner

For any home construction or expansion, mortar is one of the widely used materials that you can find on the site. Whether you are interested in filling the gaps of the bricks in your yard or your home, adding mortar can help enhance the looks of your home’s surface while adding to the structure of your walls. White mortar is a popular type of mortar. This is because, with white mortar, you can use it to contrast the color of different bricks. Unlike its gray counterpart, the white mortar will add a polished look.

Whether you want to use the white mortar for aesthetics or construction, if you need to make it, you can simply follow the steps here:

To begin with, you need to get the necessary ingredients. White Portland and white sand are the main materials that you will use. Make sure to get the white variations for both the cement and the sand. If one of the ingredients has a different color, you will not be able to make it. If you want to augment your white mortar further, you can also opt to buy lime. Lime can be used to enhance both the tone and the mixture of the mortar. When purchasing or retrieving these materials, make sure to go for the new and unopened packs. These will be easier to use and mix.
After you have your materials, it’s time to prepare your measurements. Before you blend the white mortar, you need to know how much of each ingredient you should use. Most estimations for this mix come in ratios. There is also no single measurement because they vary depending on the application of the mortar. However, there are three popular measurements that you can adopt. The first one is the 1:3 ratio. You’ll use one part of the white cement and three parts of the white sand. The second one is 1:1:6. Here, you use one-part white cement, one-part lime, and six-parts white sand. The last one is 1:1:1.5, where you have one-part cement, one-part lime, and one and half-parts white sand.
Next, make sure to set an appropriate space or wheelbarrow for mixing the dry ingredients. Once that is done, start by creating a pile of white sand. After that, place the white cement on top of the sand. If you will use lime, you can store it in a separate container first. Once you’re done piling the sand and cement together, use a shovel to mix them. Make sure that the mixture is even and that no part is sticking out.
Add water to the mix. Like with the measurements of the dry material, there is no specific measurement. However, you should only add small amounts at a time. Every time you add water, use your shovel to mix it with the sand and cement. When the white mortar mix is smooth and spreadable, then you are done with this step. If you have lime in your mix, then you can also use less water. To know when to stop adding water, make sure that your mix can move around, but not too many that it will have a watery, runny consistency.

After following these steps, you now have your white mortar. It’s important to know that once you have it, you should immediately apply it. If you take up more than two hours in your application, the white mortar might harden and become difficult to set. Try to remember to keep your tools clean when doing this. Any dirt on your equipment can accidentally darken your white mortar mix.

When creating your mortar, the most important thing is to know how much you’ll prepare. While white mortar does not harden immediately, going past the recommended period can make it unusable.

Jason D. Turner

Hi there! My name is Jason, a keen enthusiast in power tools and their mechanisms and the sole mastermind behind the Noisy Tools. Working in a multi-national construction firm in Brooklyn for over a decade, I have developed a fair flair for different construction devices, gadgets, and their diverse operational aspects. By the dint of this platform, I have researched and reviewed various tools with utmost details of even the most trivial matters that will provide valuable insights for any prospective user.