Clay pavers mortared to concrete slab

[Admin]

One of the forum users emailed this in instead of posting it. Someone jump in and help him out. THANKS!
- Admin

QUESTION:
I have architect plans to lay clay pavers on a 4" cement pad. They recommend laying the pavers in a mortar bed with no joints. I'm worried that they will 'freeze and thaw' and pop off of the mortar bed. I'm in columbia, mo and the winters can be very up and down(temperature). What would you recommend as an appropriate commercial installation technique in this situtation?

[bricktrimble]

While this seems like a possible solution, you have to be very careful. Water IS going to get in the joints and saturate the mortar setting bed. Freeze/thaw action will work on the mortar over time. Often, the transition areas of the country that get a lot of freezing and then thawing are worse than areas that just freeze once. Anyhow, I would recommend a latex additive to the mortar to make it bond better with the slab and hopefully make it a bit more durable. Read the directions (and follow them) since this material has different requirements than regular mortar.

Brian Trimble
Brick Industry Association
(read our Technical Notes 14 Series for more information, www.gobrick.com)