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Hi,
My contractor is buying sand for 19k for a truck.It looks like red sand.He also told me it is not a filtered sand and it is coming from Banavasi near shimoga.How do i believe it is not a filtered sand?.Current cost of sand per load is 24-26K.He told me he will mix bot and use it for construction.The reason he told me is river sand particles are bit bigger and the building may be vulnerable to seepage in future .He want to use a sand that is thinner then river sand.

Many thanks,

Hi,
no doubt the river sand rates are sky rocketting, people are trying to experiment different substitute for sand, the contractor being already commited to the rates might not be willing to spend more on the increased rate, try telling him that you can share the extra price for the good sand, thats one way to prevent him from using filtered sand, now you can do a simple test at site to find out the silt content in the sand, take about 2-3 litres of water in a container used for measuring sand, put 2 hands full of sand randomly taken from the stock, allow it to settle for few minutes, then shake the container slowly and drain the water very slowly making sure the settled layer of sand is not disturbed,after draining the water observe the content of mud or silt which will be very fine, sticking all around the container, it will form a paste like thing if you take it in your finger,repeat the test for different sample, now the quantity of this silt should not be more than 5-6 % of the total volume. this is a crude method, i have tried it many times. if you still have doubts you can get it checked from any agencies.
you can use coarse grained sand without silt which will be availble at lesser price for foundation masonry, floor concreting, and other miscellaneous works, but for the masonry, plastering and roof concreting one has to use proper grade.
regards
Vivek

Hi,
There are other simple tests .just put your dry hand in the sand ,if the fine dust(looks like sea sand) sticks to you then its a mix.Also in pure river sand you should find shells .If you remember good old days of playing in sand with shells as whistles.I used to collect fresh water snail shells from the sand used for constructing my grand fathers home.

Regards
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior Designers
ardesarchitects@gmail.com

Hi All,

Thanks for your replay.My contractor told me all types of sand doesn't contain shells

Many thanks

Small grain size helps your contractor to finish off the work faster. Small grain sand easily mixes with cement making it sticky and it eases their work since it sticks easily. ALso they don't have to splash the cement hard on the wall and press it. So they can finish their work fast. Their intention is doubtful. He may save in labor cost or in hurry to take up somewhere else. You save on cement and sand but that is not your intention.

nesaraRWH wrote:Hi,
you can use coarse grained sand without silt which will be availble at lesser price for foundation masonry, floor concreting, and other miscellaneous works, but for the masonry, plastering and roof concreting one has to use proper grade.
regards
Vivek

what is coarse grained sand? Are there different types of sand within the river sand? how to findout the grade of the sand?

Hi Yogi,
river sand comes in different grades of grain size, coarse grain means grains of sand bigger than 0.5 mm which is not sutiable for masonry or plaster works, generally sand from maddur,sakleshpur,belakavadi,T narasipura are of finner grade suitable for all types of works,costs more, sand from kanakapura,ramnagar,channapatna are coarse grained.
Vivek

Hi,
how is the sand measured. Is it in Cubic meters(CUM)? If yes, how many CUM of sand does 1 full truck load of sand contains?
Also my engineer is telling that he will be using river sand and it will be red coloured sand. Will the river sand be reddish in color. Is my contractor misleading me?

Yogi wrote:Hi,
how is the sand measured. Is it in Cubic meters(CUM)? If yes, how many CUM of sand does 1 full truck load of sand contains?
Also my engineer is telling that he will be using river sand and it will be red coloured sand. Will the river sand be reddish in color. Is my contractor misleading me?

Sand is usually measured in cft - one lorry load of sand is supposed to have 400 cft of sand, but it varies depends on the type of the truck, type of the supplier etc..it will normally between 360 and 400 cft. Hope this helps.

Hi,Yogi
You need to measure the truck size and estimate the sand load.Simple calculation of LxHxW of the truck will give the volume.Sand is measured in CUM.Sand load vehicle bodies are specially made to make it look bigger from out side but internal volumes are less.Measurement of internal space will only give you exact sand volume.

regards
Ar.Praveen.n
Ardes Architects and Interior Designs
ardesarchitects@gmail.com