What is the difference between plastering sand and building sand

This can be used as an auxiliary sand option when river sand is unavailable. It is made by crushing granite or basalt rock. This man-made sand is a great option to make use of materials available to create the right consistency.

The process may take as many as three crushing sessions but the result has become a very popular substitute for river sand. Rounded particle sand taken from the banks of rivers. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. These materials tend to be bought and sold in large batches, often intended for the purpose of a specific building project. Sand is an essential component when it comes to mixing mortars, which means trade quality building sand is absolutely crucial as part of the initial construction stage.

Mix with cement and water to make bricklaying mortar. Before we get into exactly what types of sand there are and how each should be used, it would be a good idea to find out what sand actually is and where it comes from. Sand is essentially made from rocks that have been broken up and eroded over time and ground down to form much smaller particles. One of the primary ingredients of sand is silica. Apart from sand, silica is found in a great many other materials, both naturally occurring and man-made materials.

Some of these include quartz one of its most common occurrences , clay, glass, silica gels and also in some food stuffs and medicines. As mentioned, silica or fine rock particles forms the bulk of a body of sand and quartz tends to be the most common material that effectively forms the silica. The quartz itself otherwise known as silicon dioxide is formed when oxygen combines with silicon.

One of the other key constituents of sand is Feldspar. Over time, and through the action of the wind, waves and erosion, quartz and feldspar combine along with other materials such as bone, shell, coral, glass and as many should now be aware, plastic and forms sand on beaches, river beds and around lakes and other shorelines. Sand itself sits between gravel and silt with its grains being smaller than those that make up gravel but larger than those that make up silt.

As a general rule, sand is classified as such if its particles range from 2mm at largest down to 0. As we briefly mentioned above, sand is arguably one of the most used materials in the building trade.

Due to this, the demand for sand is massive, not only in the UK but across the entire globe and as with any other naturally occurring resource, there is only a finite supply and stocks will inevitably start to run out at some point in the not too distant future!

With this in mind, sand should be treated as a precious resource and wastage kept to a minimum, not only to preserve the sand itself, but to also minimize the environmental impact that goes with having to supply billions of tonnes of sand globally. One final point to note with the sand used in construction is that it should be as clean and free from impurities soil, clay etc as possible and also, as uniform in terms of grain size as possible depending on the type you are using.

If you have done any concreting in the past or had to mix any mortar to lay bricks or blocks you will almost certainly have had to purchase some sand from a builders merchant or DIY shed. In the majority of cases, the sand on offer will be a yellowy orangey colour just as you may imagine it to be. You may have also experienced the situation where you purchase one bag of standard yellow builders sand only to find you run out before the job is finished.

After another trip to the builders merchant you then discover the only builders sand they have is a red colour which results in your mortar being two different colours, leaving you in the quandary of whether to just use it as it is or try and colour match it using a mortar tone or other colouring method. The reason for this is down to where the sand has come from. Sand produced in one area of the country may have a slightly higher iron-oxide content, giving it a reddy orange appearance, where as sand from another area of the country may feature more coral or shell content giving it a whiter appearance.

The answer to this question has to do with the previously mentioned fact that sand, as a commodity, is in short supply and as large DIY chains tend to buy in massive bulk quantities, their normal supplier may not be able to supply them in these quantities from their normal go-to source due to low stocks.

Farwell Ltd. Building Sand. Also known as soft sand, building sand is a widely used material in construction due to its multi-functional properties. Primarily used in bricklaying, sand can be used for other applications such as pointing, rendering and bedding pond liners.

We do have a minimum order for delivery but you can also collect aggregate. For more details on our minimum order quantities please contact the office. Tipper or Grab Lorries Collection or Delivery. Get a quote. Please complete our contact form or call the office to get a quote on any of our aggregate supplies. Frequently asked Building Sand questions:.

What is building sand?