I recently built a stacked stone fireplace with this:

https://www.msistone.com/stacked-stone/alaska-gray/


and this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cus...tar-STTSW3/100678061


This is my first time doing anything with mortar and I got a bunch of it on the face of the stacked stone and it's dried.

Anybody have any tips for getting it off? So far I've just been picking away at it with a painters tool thing. Definitely learned my lesson, the project ended up being a lot messier than I thought it was going to be.

Thanks!

I'v marveled at how the walls are put up seemingly "dry". The mortar is sometimes visible, way way in the back.

When I stripped my basement walls' crumbling parging down, the fill between the stones likewise crumbled - it must have been sand / lime 8-to-1. The stones beyond had the smallest amounts of actual cement between them; it looked like the frugal builder had his masons using it by the teaspoon, and only at stone contact points.

Putting up a wall like that, I'm guessing that far less mortar is needed than the layperson uses. On one stone project I messed up, I tried using muriatic acid to eat away excess mortar. It ended up releasing minerals from the stone, which in turn stained the stone with streaks of red and yellow.

All of this said, I'd leave it be for now, eventually pick at it with a very sharp cold chisel and small hammer. Or take the wall down and redo it.

My cousin is a mason; on his own stonework he has a few mortar joints squeezing out; I'm pretty sure he corrects it on customer work. But his own? Me, maybe I'd chip at it a little, then rub a handful of dirt across it.

Son of a bricklayer, which means I also learned the trade as well here...

I'm not familiar with the thin-set you posted. Personally I would reach out to the "SimpleSet" company and ask them your question.

For regular standard mortar, the quicker you get at it the better. If its already cured just chisel off the large chunks and then "rough up" the other mortar spots.

Then hose down the wall to make everything wet. Once wet, mix of 1 part muriatic acid to 10 parts of plain water. Put on gloves and use a rough brush to work on the bad spots. Do one area at a time and then hose off - in other words don't let the muriatic acid mix dry on the wall.

Move onto the next area, etc.

Best of luck!

I would guess that's rather more a mastic than mortar. Looks like the principal ingredients are basically silica (sand), sodium hydroxide (lye) and ethylene glycol (antifreeze).

I would call Custom Building Products and ask what they advise. I see nothing on their product page as to cleaning.