Ready Mixed Mortar

George, cementitious materials are not within he scope of this credit.

Hello Tristan, I am very confused. Does your answer apply to tile adhesives, joint grouts, grouts, screeds, plasters, rendering, etc? I am often being asked to declare VOC content of cementitious mortars (ready mixed). For me (representing a Mortar Producer) there is no need, since there are no organic compound suitable to be volatile into the composition of the product. Most of my client do not accept this statement. How can I prove based on LEED manuals/rules that those kind of products does not need VOC measurements?

I think what Tristan means is this: a material that is composed of inert, mineral-based materials is not within the scope of this credit. An example would be a traditional grout mix of ordinary portland cement, lime, sand and water. Most mortar and grout products sold these days have a much more complicated list of ingredients. For purposes of this credit we typically define things like ready mix mortars by what they are adhering. So if the ready mix mortar is being used to set ceramic tile we make sure the product meets the VOC standard for ceramic tile adhesive. There are many low and zero-VOC products of this type available. Anyone concerned about which category a product fits into should look in the 1168 document itself where there are roughly 100 definitions of different classes of materials.