Homemade cement mortar plasticizers are a useful option for do-it-yourselfers or small-scale builders who want to increase workability without using store-bought additives. In order to improve mortar’s fluidity and make it easier to mix and apply while preserving its strength and durability, a plasticizer is used. You can customize your mixture to suit your needs and have complete control over what goes into it by making your own plasticizer.
The main components of a homemade plasticizer are usually readily available, everyday household items. Using liquid dish soap or liquid laundry detergent as the primary ingredient is a popular recipe. These products include surfactants, which aid in lowering water’s surface tension and enhancing the cement mortar’s workability and spreadability.
Start with a clean container and combine one part liquid dish soap or liquid detergent with two parts water to make your plasticizer. Depending on the type of cement you’re using and the desired consistency, you can slightly alter this ratio. To guarantee uniformity, it is crucial to thoroughly mix the solution.
Alternatively, you can make another potent homemade plasticizer with sugar if you’d rather not use dish soap or detergent. Because sugar is a natural retarder, it can help make mortar more workable by slightly postponing the setting time. Before adding one or two tablespoons of sugar to your cement mixture, dissolve it in warm water to make this kind of plasticizer.
The performance characteristics of homemade plasticizers must be taken into account when replacing commercial products. Although DIY solutions can be more affordable and practical, they might not offer the same degree of consistency and dependability as additives that are produced commercially. It’s advised to conduct small-batch experiments and testing to find the best ratios and working conditions for your particular application.
You can customize the mixture to fit the needs of your project and possibly save money by creating your own plasticizer for cement mortar. For a smoother, more manageable mortar mix for a variety of construction or do-it-yourself projects, homemade plasticizers, whether you use a sugar additive or a soap base, can be a useful tool.
| Ingredients | Proportions/Replacements |
| Liquid Soap | 1 part (e.g., dishwashing soap) |
| Water | 2 parts (clean water) |
| Calcium Chloride | 1 teaspoon per gallon (optional, accelerates setting) |
Kinds
Studying every kind of additive that is currently on the market and their primary purposes is essential before selecting appropriate additives.
Special components included in the composition help to modify the mixture and improve its performance characteristics. Depending on the kind of additive, it can improve elasticity, increase resistance to freezing temperatures, and change the cement’s hydration in a positive way.
- reduce the concentration and saturation with moisture;
- reduce shrinkage during hydration;
- help to fill the forms with the composition more easily, and simplify the masonry process;
- make it so that the cement solution prepared in advance can be stored longer;
- prevent cracking;
- create the ability for steel reinforcement to better contact with the compositions;
- increase the strength of the structure;
- reduce the required amount of water;
- help to ensure that the solution stratifies less;
- create more mobile mixtures.
Accelerators
Cement mortars harden faster if special chemicals are added to their composition, accelerating the process. The hydration process begins at the moment when water penetrates into the cement particles, and continues even after several months. This increases the strength of the material.
At the start of the setting process, it’s critical to maintain a high relative humidity. The outside air temperature needs to be above zero at this point (at least +5°C, but ideally up to +20°C).
Concrete starts to crumble and lose strength when moisture is either removed from it too soon or stays inside it. The solution must be heated or chemical additives must be used to bring the process back to normal.
- calcium chloride;
- calcium nitrate;
- calcium nitrite-nitrate;
- calcium nitrite-nitrate-chloride;
- sodium sulfate;
- sodium nitrate;
- trisodium phosphate;
- sodium chloride.
Setting accelerators under the following brands are supplied by manufacturers to the market: Relamix, Addiment, Relaxor, Concrete-F, Fort UP-2, etc.
- Working in cold weather, in combination with electric heating.
- During the production of prefabricated elements, tiles and other individual shaped reinforced concrete products. Wear resistance and strength, the appearance of the product is improved, it becomes possible to get by with fewer forms due to the reduction in time hardening.
- Need to reduce the time of formwork wrapping when pouring a monolith.
- Reduced construction time by 2-3 times.
- Creation of lightweight concrete without reducing strength and changing the ratio of water and cement in the composition.
Retarders
When building large structures, it can be challenging to join sections that have already been poured with new mortar. Special additives that lengthen the setting time are used to keep plastering, concreting mixtures, and CMC glue from setting.
- vibration costs are reduced;
- mobility is improved, accordingly, it is possible to lay at temperatures up to +30 ° C;
- the amount of cement is reduced;
- no stratification;
- shrinkage is reduced;
- strength increases;
- the finished structure has a better surface;
- workers are in more comfortable conditions due to the absence of vibration noise.
- Chemical additives – nitrilotrimethylenephosphonic acid (NTF), sodium gluconate, sodium citrate.
- Compositions of several components, sold ready-made – SikaPlast 520 N, a retarder from the company "Promsnab" from Kemerovo, Linamix, FREM LINAS 200 liquid.
- Food industry waste – feed sugar molasses, whey.
Special retarders, either gels or liquids, are used in the process of producing relief decorative forms using the "washed concrete" technology.
- DRC 6 – architectural retarder;
- Pieri VBA Bio 2 – biodegradable composition;
- Clean concrete – gel retarder for finishing layers;
- gel G-05.
On the front side of the formed elements, one retarder is applied. Strong water jets are used to remove unhardened cement without waiting for the upper layer to solidify.
Air-entraining
Additives are utilized to introduce the necessary quantity of air into the mixture, resulting in the creation of micropores in the concrete with a diameter of roughly 0.05 cm. To improve resistance to frost, such a structure is required.
- Reduce the density of finished structures.
- The ability to use coarse-grained filler instead of quartz sand.
- Reduce the consumption of porous materials and the water content of the mixture.
- Improving sound and heat insulation.
- Reducing stratification during transportation.
- Easy shaping of the solution (increasing workability compared to a mixture without additives).
This kind of additive has the drawback of making structures less strong. Concrete loses 5.5% of its strength for every 1% increase in air content.
Vinsol is the most often utilized additive in this sense. After neutralizing tree resin, it is obtained.
- Synthetic surfactants;
- Wood pitch (saponified);
- Saponified wood resin.
- Salts of petroleum or lignosulfonic acids.
- Salts obtained from proteins.
- Salts of organic sulfonic acids.
- Bisil Cel – produced by the company "Dorizo", Spain.
- Mylonaft – the composition is sold in metal or wooden barrels. It is a paste that contains at least 70% dry matter.
- Saponified wood resin (SWR) – sold in paper bags in solid form. Added to cement in a proportion of 0.1-0.3%.
- TsNIIPS-1 – supplied in paper bags in paste form.
- SPD – 40% aqueous solution supplied in railway tanks. Added to dry cement in proportions of 0.005-0.025%.
- SNV – neutralized air-entraining resin. From the mass of cement, they are introduced into the composition of concrete in the value 0.005-0.05%.
Anti-frost
These kinds of additives are required to modify building materials for use in cold climates. In the modern world, a lot of objects are still being constructed during the winter by using modifiers.
Because of the impact on the water in the solution or the acceleration of hardening, the mixture’s freezing point drops to -20°C.
- CA is the result of the interaction of calcium and hydrochloric acid. Used in structures without reinforcement because it causes corrosion.
- NKM, NK+M – a mixture of calcium nitrate and urea.
- M – urea. Slows down setting.
- NN, NNK – calcium nitrate and nitrite-nitrate. Accelerates setting in frost. Have an anti-corrosion effect. Poisonous.
- NC – calcium nitrate. Changes hardening time.
- P – potash (calcium carbonate). Even at -30°C concrete sets well.
Superplasticizers
Superplasticizers are attracting a lot of attention; what are they? These additives are mixtures of many polar groups that are either synthetic or organic and of the anionic type. These additives increase the mobility of concrete by three to four times and prolong the service life of the solutions.
Once the initial slowdown in hydration occurs, concrete starts to harden rapidly. The effects wear off in two to three hours. Because surfactants act to increase the surface area of interaction between cement and water, the number of hydrate neoplasms increases.
The maximum percentage of additives in cement mass is between 0.7% and 1.5%. Given that aluminate is necessary for concrete mobility, higher doses are recommended for high-aluminate cements.
Superplasticizers can save up to 50 kg of cement per square meter. The strength characteristics also increase by up to 25% at the same time.
In reinforced concrete plants, group 1 additives are used to get the necessary workability out of the mixture. Strength gain, faster form turnover, and lower production costs are all achieved.
Thirty to forty percent of the dry product is an aqueous solution of salt, which is what superplasticizer C-3 and similar substances are. The latter is made of sulfuric acid and naphthalene.
Manufacturing rules
Concrete or mortar must be mixed with plasticizing additives in the following ratios and addition orders:
- Polyvinyl acetate glue should only be added to the finished concrete mixture. Moisture penetration into the mortar will decrease if a glass of PVA is used per bucket of concrete.
- The hardness threshold will be higher due to slower hydration when 100-150 g of washing powder is added to a bag of cement at the time of mixing the composition. The powder is pre-diluted in water.
- For work inside the building, a 1:1 ratio of slaked lime and cement is taken. For facade plastering, a mixture with a 20% lime content will be needed. The masonry joints will be smoother, the uniformity of application will improve, and it will be easier to perform complex manipulations with the mortar. Its stickiness will increase. The concrete will acquire additional elasticity. Among other things, the composition will have high bactericidal abilities.
- Concrete can harden 2-3 hours faster if at the beginning of mixing you add a glass (200 g) of shampoo or soap in liquid form to a bag of Portland cement (50 kg). You can prepare concrete mix in less time in large volumes.
It has long been known that cement mortar can become more flexible by adding egg yolk. Such a use of food products might seem illogical to a city dweller.
But using eggs—broken ones, for instance—as solution additives makes sense in rural and agricultural settings. The yolk’s organic components enable buildings to endure for centuries.
Technological features
The following issues could arise when self-made or improvised modifiers for cement plaster and masonry mortar are used:
- After introducing soap, salt is intensively washed out on the concrete surface. Therefore, the appearance of white streaks cannot be ruled out.
- Some properties of binder cement may change under the influence of additives. As a result, the curing time of the composition can also vary. They become difficult to predict accurately.
- Conditions for mold formation are improved by disrupting the structure of the solution after introducing soap. It binds the liquid in concrete and prevents it from migrating.
- The load on the foundation increases, and concrete gains greater density when the formation of micropores inside the monolith decreases. This process occurs after adding detergents. In this case, the solution settles faster.
- Modification additives may not give the desired effect if they are not introduced at the right time. This should be done at the beginning of the batch, since the alkaline environment resulting from the soap can change the properties of the mixture.
- Foam is formed more strongly when using detergents and mixing the composition in an electric concrete mixer. The process of preparing the solution will need to be periodically interrupted, waiting for the precipitation of foam.
When problems arise, it usually makes sense to use plasticizers that have specific qualities from industrial production.
Operating principle
You must comprehend how plasticizers operate in order to use them correctly. A phase is a portion of the mixture that is separated from other elements using the separation surface and is thought of as a system with similar properties and composition.
The ingredients of a typical cement mortar, such as water, sand, and cement, are likewise regarded as solids in their own thermodynamic phase.
Particle size decreases as their specific surface (total) increases. Consequently, the quality rises as the surface area of the interacting components in chemical reactions increases.
Building solution components are fine, dusty cement and somewhat coarse sand, which are combined and then mixed with water. A significant amount of surface tension is produced by the clutch forces operating on the water’s surface layer’s phase section boundary between the molecules. This results in uneven and insufficient cement moistening, making the fluid difficult to distribute across the surface.
When the surface of the cement that is involved in specific chemical reactions grows, the viscosity of the solution also increases significantly with the same amount of water. This can happen if the mixture breaks up into smaller cement fractions as a result of the big particles collapsing and their electric charges being neutralized by the different polarity of the particles.
The possibility of altering the rate of hydration should be taken into consideration separately for each solution and the chosen additive. Cement and various kinds of surface-based active substances interact differently.
What can be used as a substitute
In Moscow and other big cities, you can easily find any additive at a reasonable price. There is a workaround when operating in isolated locations without readily available additives.
- To give the mortar water-repellent properties, increase its strength and mobility, you need to add PVA glue to the composition. You will need 200-250 g of glue per 10 liters of mixture.
- Another option to choose a replacement for the factory plasticizer for cement mortar with your own hands is to add slaked lime. It should be mixed into concrete no more than 20%. In this case, the likelihood of cracks will decrease, plasticity will increase. Products, for example, paving slabs will become resistant to sudden temperature changes, their surface will be smooth, even, durable. If lime is used as an additive, other substances cannot be used together with it.
- You can add a little dishwashing detergent to the solution. For 12 kg of cement (bucket) you will need 2 tbsp. l. household chemicals. The foam resulting from stirring, enveloping the particles of binder and filler in the solution, will make it elastic.
- Washing powder can increase the mobility of building mixtures. At the same time, the composition for hand washing gives greater foaming – less expensive. 2 tbsp. l. there will be enough cement for a bucket.
- To save money, liquid soap is suitable. It is sold in 5-liter bottles. Better to take the cheapest remedy. Proportions – 2 t. l. on a bucket with cement. Similarly pour out a firm household soap chopped on a grater for vegetables.
A workable way to increase workability of cement mortar without using store-bought additives is to make your own plasticizer. Liquid dish soap and water are common household ingredients that can be used to create effects comparable to those of plasticizers purchased at stores. To keep your mortar strong and workable, it’s important to keep the proper ratios.
Use a basic ratio of one part liquid dish soap to three parts water when preparing your homemade plasticizer. This concoction improves the mortar mix’s fluidity while lowering the amount of water required. If necessary, slightly adjust the ratio; however, do not make it too concentrated, as this will weaken your cement mortar.
If you would rather use something other than dish soap, you can try sugar or vinegar. By binding with cement particles, sugar functions as a natural plasticizer, and vinegar can increase workability by reducing surface tension in water. Carefully test out these alternatives to see which one suits your particular project the best.
Recall that although DIY plasticizers are more affordable and practical, their performance and consistency might not match that of store-bought alternatives. Consider using commercially available plasticizers made specifically for cement mortar if your project calls for precise results or if you’re working on a large-scale construction project to ensure best performance and durability.
In conclusion, using common household items, creating your own plasticizer for cement mortar can be a simple process. You can effectively improve the workability of your mortar mix by experimenting with different ingredient combinations and knowing the proper proportions. Maintaining the strength and integrity of your cement mortar while enhancing its usability should always come first, regardless of the substitutes you select—dish soap, sugar, vinegar, or something else entirely.
This article from "All about concrete" explains how to make a plasticizer for cement mortar at home using a straightforward method. You can increase the workability and strength of your cement mixes without using store-bought additives by knowing the proper ratios and acceptable alternatives. Learn how to improve the performance of your mortar using common ingredients to make your do-it-yourself projects go more smoothly and efficiently.
