Mortar in cold weather

[Kaizen]

In my continuing battle against vermin I'm redoing my stone foundation on my house which is heated. Its 45--50 degrees F during the day for 5 hours and then drops to 30 at night. It takes me about 30 min to mix and tuck point the mortar which i'm doing about noon each day.
Question is will the foundation be absorbing enough heat and the few hours of good temps be enough for the mortar to not freeze and be issues? Each gap is only a few inches at most thick and i'm not sure if this is better of worse. Should i be using antifreeze or an accelerator? I really don't want to get into heating the space but can if needed. I doubt it would be very effective with my methods.

 

[matt_i]

The concrete generates heat as it cures, slower when colder. You have some heat from inside. I would try some batts of Roxul which you can buy in up to 2x8 (7-1/4" thickness) pressed against your work and then plywood (etc) to hold it up there against wind.

It could get more exotic using a plywood (etc) box with an electric space heater inside. But always there will be the issue of minimizing air leakage at the interface to the stone.

 

[Kaizen]

The concrete generates heat as it cures, slower when colder. You have some heat from inside. I would try some batts of Roxul which you can buy in up to 2x8 (7-1/4" thickness) pressed against your work and then plywood (etc) to hold it up there against wind.

Thanks Matt. As its not much concrete in one place I'm thinking its far less then a slab which got me started on this. I have some batts i can put against it for a few days.