Any cement mix needs to stay damp to cure to maximum strength. Mortar/concrete/plaster doesn’t harden by “drying”. If cement based mixes dry they cannot “cure”. The curing process is a chemical bonding of the cement with water, hydration. Typically samples from roads are kept for 30 days in lime water, an alkali solution, before testing as a fair measure of how they should have strengthened in the slab. So if you can let your house stay damp for as long as possible then the mortar and plaster will be stronger.
- posted
4 years ago