Building mortar

Embedment in, or contact with, various building materials Metal components may be embedded in various building mortars, plasters, concrete or floor compositions, or else may be in contact with these. Similarly, they may be in contact with materials such as other metals, wood, etc. 

W.H. Harrison, M.E. Gaze, Laboratory-scale tests on building mortars for durability and related properties . Masonry International, Spring, 1989. 

Building Mortars , Building Research Establishment Digest No. 362. 

Uses of compounds of calcium far outnumber those of the metal. World production of CaO, Ca(OH)2, CaO MgO, Ca(OH)2 MgO and Ca(OH)2-Mg(OH)2 was 296000Mt in 2008 with China being by far the greatest producer. Calcium oxide (quicklime or lime) is produced by calcining hmestcme (see Fig. 11.6) and a major use is as a comprment in building mortar. Dry sand and CaO mixtures can be stored and transported. On adding water, and as CO2 is absorbed. 

Porter F.C., Aluminium embedded in building mortars and plasters. Ten years tests, Metallurgia, vol. 65, 1962, p. 65-71. 

Roofs are a basic element of shelter from inclement weather. Natural or hewn caves, including those of snow or ice, ate early evidence of human endeavors for protection from the cold, wind, rain, and sun. Nomadic people, before the benefits of agriculture had been discovered and housing schemes developed, depended on the availabiUty of natural materials to constmct shelters. Portable shelters, eg, tents, probably appeared early in history. Later, more permanent stmctures were developed from stone and brick. SaUent features depended strongly on the avadabihty of natural materials. The Babylonians used mud to form bricks and tiles that could be bonded with mortars or natural bitumen. Ancient buildings in Egypt were characterized by massive walls of stone and closely spaced columns that carried stone lintels to support a flat roof, often made of stone slabs. 

Limestone and marble have been mined as building materials and the oxide of calcium, lime [1305-78-8], has been used ia the manufacture of mortar for centuries (see Building materials, survey Lime and limestone). Lime-burning was one of the first iadustries ia the American colonies, where calcining of limestone was accompHshed ia kilns dug out of the sides of hills. 

Bau-pappe,/. building (paper) board, -riss, m. bmlding plan, -sand, m. building sand, mortar sand. 

Magnesium and calcium are by far the most important members of the group. Magnesium is, in effect, the doorway to life it is present in every chlorophyll molecule and hence enables photosynthesis to take place. Calcium is the element of rigidity and construction it is the cation in the bones of our skeletons, the shells of shellfish, and the concrete, mortar, and limestone of buildings. 

An option for upgrading blast resistance of an existing building may be to provide additional beams, columns, or walls strengthened with a mortar or concrete pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface. The concrete is placed on a cage of reinforcement, which is doweled into elements of the existing stmcture. 

Surface bonding mortar or cement is mentioned in some building codes as an approved dampproofing treatment, but not as a waterproofing treatment. A number of manufacturers produce cements and mortars impregnated with fibrous glass or other fibers. Some of these may be chemically unstable in the alkaline environment of Portland cement. 

Building mud, a composite material, is easily prepared by mixing clay or clayey soil with fibrous matter, such as straw or dung of herbivorous animals, and sufficient water to obtain a plastic, pliable mass. In ancient Egypt, for example, mud was made by mixing clayey soil with sand, chopped straw, and sufficient water so as to make the mixture pliable and suitable either for use as mortar or stucco or for making bricks. 

The major uses of quicklime are as a component of ordinary glass, as a flux in metal smelting operations and (mostly), for making building cement and mortar (see Textbox 34). 

Jedrzejewska, H. (1990), Ancient mortars as criterion in analysis of old architecture, in Mortars, Cements and Grouts Used in the Conservation of Historical Buildings Symp., Rome, pp. 311-329. 

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