Do you guys backplaster mortar atleast 1/4" around the whole basin(of course fill joints), or do you just mortar the joints. Couple things I've already gathered is that plastering the thing 1/4" all around look very professional. Another is the cost of mortar and I'm not sure does better for the structure. Thanks for any input because I'm really trying to over do the catch basin at a reasonable cost :usa!
It's 1 inch here on the outside of brick structures.... manholes or inlets... nothing on the inside other than the invert... not many bricks toss around here .. or site built for that matter... most everything is precast... what little brick that is used is to bring the inlets or manhole up to grade.... but mostly used on inlets... as various thicknesses of rings can be found nowadays...
I have found that the requirements vary from town to town but many towns will conform to whatever the state code may be.Ron G
Being a bricklayer / masonry contractor. I can tell you it won't hurt and will key things together better under compression like an arch works. type s mortar is the strongest you can get without special order most of the time 1800 psi vs 750 for type N. Portland and sand with some mortar is good to as the mortar will give it plasticity so you can work with it easier. Sand and cement is not very workable and the water separates from it. That is why we can add 10% lime even when grout structurally reinforced block walls. Before precast everything was bricks. Sewer lines were made in an egg shape so it flowed better when they was not much to flow. Millions and millions of bricks under ground even the NY and other subway systems the roof is brick arches for miles.
Thanks Speedpup you pretty much hit it on the head what I was wondering about. I went from new road construction to repairs and learning quite abit in the transition. Last job I pretty much learned to slam them in with type S barely grouted. Now using a custom mix of mortar/sand/portland. Hehe I'm even using a trowel :beatsme. We must being doing something right because we have two large companies keeping us busy with site tuneups. So your saying type S (which we call spec mix) is stronger then a normal mortar mix?