The mortar on my house lightened to its final color in about 24 hours. I am in Louisiana, so similar weather & humidity.

Mortar is weak if it dries quickly after being placed. The cement portion cures by hydration--reacting with water. So long as the water does not wash out the mortar, the dampness is beneficial. Count your blessings.

Okay, this is very helpful. And it just rained yet again... fingers crossed it dries lighter. Otherwise we have a very depressed looking house. I've checked out the other threads on this that say it is based on your climate, so I was wondering how this specific extreme rain and humidity treats the mortar. For example, it was 95% humidity when I went for a walk on Friday morning. It has been like living in a swamp this summer!

Hydration continues until the mortar becomes too dry. Once hydration stops, it never restarts. If wet mortar freezes, hydration stops and never restarts. But freezing is not the problem this month.

Will being constantly hydrated help it lighten? Or just help it cure better? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to lighten. Right now I feel like I picked the wrong brick and mortar combo. The builder said on Tuesday that it would lighten a lot, but I am still waiting for it to do so.

kdm we are in the same position, brick started on saturday and the mortar looks really dark, did yours end up curing and looking much lighter?

In Louisiana and ours was bricked a couple months ago. Hot and humid, but not much rain at the time. It took several days to really lighten up. It dried much quicker on the sides with direct sun. When it rains on the brick now, everything looks darker, both brick and mortar, while it's wet.

I am also in Louisiana and it took about a week to get to its permanent color.

Thank you all for the feedback. I am in nashville where it is also very hot and humid. Hope to see some difference by the end of the week...