I need enough mortar for 160 square feet 2 inches deep.A mason told me to use 15 shovel fulls of sand per bag of type"S" mortar.How many bags of mortar do I need?Men at the brickyard had no idea.There must be a way to figure this out.That leads to how much sand.The square footage turns out to be just about one yard if you were talking concrete.Thanks for any input.

 

You do not add cement to Type S mortar.

There are two different products:
Masonry cement - Types M, S, and N(in some areas)
Mortar - A mixture of masonry cement and sand or a mixture of Portland cement, lime and sand

You use Type S cement and add sand to get Type S mortar. There are also othe combinations of portland cement and lime that can also be used to make mortar.

Your volume is about one cubic yard of mortar. Mortar weighs about 140 pounds per cubic foot, so one yard would be about 3800 pounds.

That is a lot of mortar - is it some sort of setting bed?

Dick

 

So how many 75lb. bags of type "S" masonry cement including the 15 shovels of sand does make a yard?I guess it would be cosidered a setting bed.I'm attemting to lay bluestone on a breezeway connecting a new garage to an existing home. so if a bag wieghs 75 lbs and at a 2 to 1 ratio that would be 225lbs per bag that should take 17 bags of masonry cement.