Will colouring mortar weaken it

mortar

My neighbour has recently had some work done to her roof. The old mortar was red and the new mortar is grey (uncoloured). So it looks a little silly with both colours present.

She's not very happy about this and when she complained they told her that colouring the mortar would make it weaker and more likely to crumble.

Whilst that sounds feasible it also sounds like an excuse. Surely the strength of the mortar is down to the ratio & quality of the mix, isn't it?

Roof with different coloured mortar

(The mortar at the front of the house is red, the replaced mortar at the side is not)

Best Answer

What is mortar doing on the roof???? you mean brick siding up to the roof or on the chimney?

Regardless, adding mortar dye will not weaken the mortar if used properly. I would bet a paycheck that the contractor forgot to add it and is covering his butt. A good contractor would have discussed any concerns with the customer before doing the work. To use a different colored mortar on a repair where visible, sounds pretty incompetent to me.