I'm building my own home. Finally getting around to the front porch pillars. I built the pillars from core filled concrete blocks. Now I'm ready to install my cultured stone. I assumed I had to put a scratch coat on the block pillars first. I w et Them down and then mixed my type N mortar with 3 parts sand and just enough water so the mixture would not slide off my trowel. I buttered up my first pillar and waited about 30 minutes. The temp was 60F. I found that just by touching the 3/8-1/2" mortar bed it would just fall off the pillar. It seemed to be very poor adhesion. So my question. Was I using the wrong mortar or wrong mix? I did not add you extra Portland cement. I'm stumped. Thanks for any help. Jim in Franklin, TN

 

When I did my craftsman pillar with cultured stone I use just mortar, no sand, and had a pretty thick wet mix and it went up easy!

 

What was the mix of the type N? You only told us how much sand and did not say how much mortar. Are we to assume you mean 1 part mortar to 3 parts sand.

First, what does the manufacturer of your cultured stone recommend. If it's a manufactured product they probably have instructions.

I don't understand what you did. You said you "...assumed I had to put a scratch coat..." then you start talking about the mortar mix. Then you say you waited 30 minutes. Are you saying you put a scratch coat of mortar on and let it sit for 30 minutes then what? Did you apply another coat of mortar to the columns before applying the veneer? Did you also butter the stones with mortar?