Talk:Mortar (masonry)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Perhaps correct this sentence: 'The earliest known use of lime mortar dates to about 4000 BC in Ancient Egypt.
[Concrete Construcyion Manual, pg 9. Friedbert Kind-Barkauskas] Finds in Eastern Turkey dating from about 12,000 BC represent the oldest known use of lime mortar as a building material. Then about 6000 years later lime was used as a binder in the mortar in the construction clay brick structures in the Jericho culture in Palestina. Aming the remains of old buildings dating from about 5500 BC excavated near Lepenski Vir in the Carpathian Mountains are ground floor slabs with a conrete-like composition made up of fired lime, sand and loam. The use of lime mortar in important religious buildings has been proved in Ancient Egypt, Troy and Pergamum. This method of building is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, which was written around 1200 BC.
mortar holds the bricks of the world together my brothers...
Quote: This kind of lime mortar, known as non-hydraulic, dries very slowly by a reaction with the oxygen in air. A very thick wall made of it may take centuries to dry out completely.
Shouldn't this read carbon dioxide (calcium hydroxide to calcium carbonate) ?
yes it should Kpeyn 11:02, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Purpose
If mortar's purpose is to stick the bricks together, why isnt glue used?--Light current 03:24, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
- Most glues are not weatherproof for centuries. And mortar is also a very cheap material compared to glue. Finally, the mortar sets to be as hard as the bricks it joins together, so the combined wall (bricks and mortar) is strong enough to hold the building up. Notinasnaid 07:52, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
No. My point is that the purpose of mortar is not to stick the bricks together. To see this, take a side swipe at the top brick in a wall with a club hammer. (or kick it) --Light current 08:03, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
- If this is a comment on the article, I don't see the word "stick" being used. I see "bind", which is not the same thing at all. Notinasnaid 08:08, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
What the diff? I suppose we will have to take what a publihed article like [1] says. Unfortunately, they dont mention one of its primary functions which is to spread the load evenly between the bricks. For instance I dont think you could build a dry stone wall very high without it becoming unstable. Similarly, if you used bricks just stuck together with an adhesive, they would not be very stable.--Light current 08:10, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
- Well, you can bind a bundle of sticks with string; the resulting bundle may be immensely strong. But the string doesn't stick them together. I agree that the fact that the mortar becomes an integral supporting part of the structure is important enough to mention. Notinasnaid 08:25, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
