Mortar gun - any good ?

[woodypup59]

I have some small vertical gaps in the back of a fireplace I need to fill neatly with mortar. Do you think a mortar gun would be any use ? Has anyone experience of using one.

Edited by woodypup59 on Monday 30th March 18:15

[Rob.]

I have a bit. I really struggled with it just squeezing all the water out of the mix. I gave up and just used a trowel!

Some tips in this thread here:

https://community.screwfix.com/threads/mortar-guns... pa

[woodypup59]

Thanks, some good points there, but rather mixed opinions.

[JoshSm]

Like others I tried one, and it has lived in the junk pile ever since. Easier to use a trowel.

I guess with the right mix it can work but if you have a mix that you can squeeze like toothpaste it's going to only be good for a very limited number of things. Guess it'd work for pointing!

[Shooter McGavin]

I'd use a mortar piping bag for that. Just need to make sure the mix is nice and wet for it to flow without blocking the tip.

[Ian Geary]

I bought the screwfix one- all it did was squeeze sandy water out the end, and then the plunger broke off leaving it full of compacted mortar.

I obviously got the mix wrong, but it was not the silver bullet I had hoped for.


One for a "tools you wished you'd never bought" thread...

[jfdi]

As others have said, useless junk. They just squeeze the water out of the mortar. Best tool for pointing is a spring steel tuck pointer.

[Wacky Racer]

Just use a small trowel, wait until the mix is just starting to go hard, don't have it too sloppy.

[Unreal]

You need a fairly wet mix, zero lumps and plasticiser. If you squeeze too hard you'll push out water from the mix and clog the nozzle.

Takes practice but I find them useful and neat.

[CubanPete]

I don't think they work well with lime mortar...

[Little Lofty]

They work ok if you use a plasticiser.

[blueg33]

They are rubbish. In our factory we point at least two whole houses a day. We tried mortar guns and ditched them in a week. It’s quicker , easier and neater to use mortar piping bags.

[Road2Ruin]

I have one, they work fine when you get the mix right and use plasticiser. I still wouldn't bother, though. Get yourself a 'frenchman' you will never go back. I didn't, anyway. That's a pointing tool, not a person.

[GasEngineer]

Little Lofty said:

They work ok if you use a plasticiser.

Definitely.

Once I'd perfected the mix, I kept the "recipe" of yoghurt tubs of sand, cement and water/plasticiser used. I also used plasterer's sand rather than builders sand.

I used it for pointing a chimney so was a lot easier to use while I was teetering about on the roof than a couple of trowels and a bucket of mortar.

I have the ultimate version of the Roughneck mortar gun - it has been brilliant.

(Backup from Roughneck has been excellent too. I wore out one of the pointing nozzles so called them to find where I could get a replacement and they sent me a handful free of charge).

[wolfracesonic]

blueg33 said:

They are rubbish. In our factory we point at least two whole houses a day. We tried mortar guns and ditched them in a week. It s quicker , easier and neater to use mortar piping bags.

Brick slips?

[blueg33]

wolfracesonic said:

blueg33 said:

They are rubbish. In our factory we point at least two whole houses a day. We tried mortar guns and ditched them in a week. It s quicker , easier and neater to use mortar piping bags.

Brick slips?

Yes

Edited by blueg33 on Tuesday 31st March 07:47

[mart 63]

They are great for bagging, if you get the febmix right. Not so good for neat pointing.

[GasEngineer]

mart 63 said:

They are great for bagging, if you get the febmix right. Not so good for neat pointing.

What's bagging?

I found I got a neater finish with the mortar gun over a trowel as I could get the mortar into the joint much more accurately.

[blueg33]

Bagging - I assume a piping bag.

Trowel is not great for point especially in any volume, its messy and slow. Piping bag and "bucket handle" tool is all you need

[POIDH]

Road2Ruin said:

I have one, they work fine when you get the mix right and use plasticiser. I still wouldn't bother, though. Get yourself a 'frenchman' you will never go back. I didn't, anyway. That's a pointing tool, not a person.

I bought a Pole.
The person, not the tool.
He was excellent, worked like a slave, drank more tea than my OH (impressive) and was superb value for money.