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Ken Platt
08-16-2015, 12:59 PM
Folks - Given the wealth of DIY knowledge here, thought I'd see if I could ask some advice on a small masonry repair job.

I have a front porch which is a concrete slab with bluestone on top and, of course, also as a veneer facing outwards. A few of the pieces facing outwards have fallen off, so I'd like to paste them back on.

The mortar holding these pieces on was applied pretty thickly, apparently used as a spacer to get the right amount of overhang above them. It was applied about an inch thick. This inch-thick mortar has come off with one of the pieces, held to the concrete face on another spot, and on the third bluestone piece, the mortar fell off completely.

My questions: Since the thick mortar spaces the bluestone out from the concrete at the right distance to line up with all the other bluestone pieces, can I just use some sort of outdoor epoxy to put back the two pieces which have adherent mortar? The mortar seems to be very well attached to, respectively,the bluestone and the concrete slab face.

Or, do I need to remove the mortar with a cold chisel, and redo the thick layer -which seems way thicker than one is supposed to use in a mortar mix?

Lastly, is there any special mortar mix I need to use to make such a thick layer? Or is that thickness ok for regular quickcrete mortar mix?

In the first pic you can see the pieces of detached bluestone, with the piece of (thick) detached mortar in front, and the mortar still attached in the rear.

Help and thoughts appreciated; I'd like to just do this repair once....

Ken

Tom M King
08-16-2015, 4:30 PM
Look in the concrete section of Home Depot, and try one of the Sikaflex products in caulking tubes. I'm not sure if it will be a long term fix, but it's pretty good stuff.

Brian Henderson
08-16-2015, 7:30 PM
How long has the mortar been up? That'll let you know if it's worthwhile to take all the old mortar off and redo it that way. Otherwise, while I wouldn't use epoxy, a heavy duty construction adhesive, assuming that you don't have to build up any thickness and can just attach to the remaining mortar, assuming it's still solid, should do the trick. If it falls off again after a couple of years, stick it back on.

Ken Platt
08-16-2015, 10:26 PM
The old mortar seems pretty solid, even the piece that isn't attached to anything seems like a solid slab. I have no idea how long it's been there; we've lived here for 20 years

I'll check out the sikaflex. I looked at my tube of Liquid Nails construction adhesive, but it didn't say whether it was to be used for masonry as such. It did say it could be used for brick veneer, but wasn't for granite/marble, so I wasn't sure if it was the best to use for this.

Ken