Mineral admixtures and waste by-products in concrete exhibit economical and environmental benefits, but their cementing and engineering properties should be assessed before practical adoption. In this study, we investigated hydration and physical properties of Self-Consolidating (SCM) and Ordinary (OM) mortars, based on slag-blended Portland limestone cement (PLC), with equivalent water-to-cement ratio (E/C≈ 0.55). The variables were mortar type and mineral admixture type, limestone powder (LP) or silica fume (SF). Therefore, we made two ordinary mortars (OMs), Oref (OPC based) and Oplc (slag PLC based), and two self-consolidating mortars (SCMs), SplcL (limestone based) and SplcS (silica fume based). We assessed compressive strength, sorptivity, hydration heat, thermogravimetric analysis, and SEM images. Results reveal that Oplc exhibits similar to better performance than Oref; blended LP leads to 36% higher mechanical strength, more than 50% carboaluminate in SCMs, and 40% lower heat and rate of hydration, and seems to have packing role and doesn't contribute to more sites’ nucleation; SF is efficient when substituted more than 10%.