How to mix mortar | Using a 5 gallon bucket as a measuring cup

I was taught to add 25 “shovels” of sand to one 80lb bag of mortar... but a “shovel full” of sand can be vary wildly depending on the shovel and who’s using it! So a few years ago, in order to get more uniform mud mixes, we decided to measure out the recommended amount of sand and water using 5 gallon buckets, which we always seem to have around the job site, as giant measuring cups. This has worked really well and I want to show you the idea.

Here are the measurements we use for a whole batch:
4 - 5 gallon buckets of sand
1 - 80 lb bag of a-type mirror
1 -5 gallon bucket of water
Mix 5 minutes in mixer

Here are the ratios for 1/2 batch:
2 - 5 gallon buckets of sand
1/2 - bag of a-type mortar (40Lb)
1/2 - 5 gallon bucket of water
Mix in a wheelbarrow with shovel or hoe

The REAL instructions are 3 cubic feet of sand to 1 cubic foot of mortar, which is 80 lbs. So... another thing you could do is actually make a 1 cubic foot box out of plywood to measure the sand. Otherwise, four of the five gallon buckets full will get you very close if not exactly to the 3 cubic feet.

#mortar #mix #sand