Last weekend I decided to take a trip to the beach along with three of my best girlfriends….. Oh we had so much fun, did a lot of fooling around. I played with so much sand and water and we made a lot of sand castles. Sitting on the sand I got thinking and pondering about how important sand is when building (not sand castles this time but actual buildings) , so I decided there and then that I would do a little research and write about the importance of sand in construction.


Sand is an extremely needful material for construction but it must be purchased with all care and vigilance. Sand which is used in construction purposes must be clean, free from waste, stones and impurities. It is important to know what type of sand is beneficial for construction purpose as sand is also classified into three different forms that make it suitable for specific type of construction.

Sand is a granular material made up of fine mineral particles. It is a naturally occurring, finely divided rock. Sand comprises particles, or granules, ranging in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters. An individual particle in this range size is termed a sand grain. The next smaller size class in geology is Silt: particles smaller than 0.0625 mm down to 0.004 mm in diameter. The next larger size class above sand is Gravel, with particles ranging from 2 mm up to 64 mm. Sand feels gritty when rubbed between the fingers (silt, by comparison feels like flour).

Sand is commonly divided into five sub-categories

Very fine sand
Fine sand
Medium sand
Coarse sand
Very coarse sand


THE THREE TYPES OF SANDS ARE:

Pit sand
River sand
Sea sand

Pit Sand (Coarse Sand)sharp angular grains which are free from salts. It is coarse sand which is usually used in concreting and has a reddish yellow color.

River Sand
This sand is obtained from banks or beds of rivers. River sand is fine and consists of fine rounded grains. The color of river sand is almost white and Grayish. River sand is usually available in clean condition and is used for plastering.

Sea Sand
This sand is obtained from sea shores. It has fine rounded grains and it is light brown in color. Sea sand contains salts which attract moisture from the atmosphere. Such absorption causes dampness and disintegration of work. Sea sand also retards setting action of cement. Due to these reasons, sea sand is generally avoided for engineering purposes. It is used only as a local material for nonstructural purposes.

DIFFERENT USES OF SAND

Brick Works- Brick manufacturing sand plants use sand as an additive with a mixture of clay and other materials for manufacturing bricks. Finest modulus of fine sand should be 1.2 to 1.5mm and silt contents should not be more than ...

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Constructive argument! U spoke well!