Sand grades and qualities for building and sandblasting

Sand for building and renovation

Sand comes in many different sizes, colours and qualities. It is important to recognise these different types and the different projects that they are used for.

Building Sand

'Normal' grey building sand comes in two main categories. Sand or concrete contains a lot of large, very rough particles - particles larger than 6.3mm diameter. Sand for mortar, as used for brick-laying etc, is still very cheap, but has less of the large grit in it. Both of these types of sand are usually bought by the cubic metre, and are best suited to large building projects.

For small jobs, the choice is usually between medium, fine and very fine, all washed and dry to ensure their cleanliness. As you can imagine, the fineness of the sand used determines how smooth the resultant mix is, since neither lime or cement add to the graininess of the product.

 

Very fine sand

Comes from a quarry. Very pale, with grains 0.1 - 0.3 mm in diameter. This sand is used occassionally for very fine cement work, but is used also for polishing and cleaning. There are few jobs which require a large quantity of this sand.

 

Fine sand

Comes from either a quarry or a river. Very pale brown, grains 0.2 - 0.6mm. Used for sandblasting and hydro-sandblasting (sandblasting with a mixture of sand and water), on materilas such as wood and metal.

 

Medium sand

Comes from either a quarry or a river. Light brown, grains 0.4 - 1.6mm. Usually used for sandbasting stonework and masonry, whn the wall is sufficiently stable to support it.

 

Sand colour

Sand colour is important when the product will be visible - for example repointing a wall. The colour of the sand used is very specific to your immediate region so you will need to take advice from a local builders merchant.