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Is Mastercrete too posh for below ground blockwork?


epsilonGreedy

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Put another way, I am about to order 25 bags of cement for the footing blockwork below ground and could save a few ££ buying standard cement.

 

Also while on this subject would 5 tons of sand be enough to get me started? My local building adviser has recommend a particular sand from a local quarry which he described as being at the sharp-end of soft sand.

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Mastercrete comes in weather proof plastic bags so maybe this dictates my choice.

 

Bluecircle/Tarmac sell Mastercrete at a fair old premium about 20%, they must stir in some magic.

 

I don't want to order too much sand before my final facing brick mortar colour recipe is finalized. One part lime + 1 part Rugby White cement + 6 parts orange sand is given a half decent colour match to my sample brick panel created by the plot seller.

 

I was working on 100 blocks per 1000lbs of sand plus a margin because many of these blocks will be laid flat.

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Are you going to use white cement in a footing?? 

Bog standard Portland cement as long as it doesn't say Quinn on the bag.

Don't forget you will need a mix or 2 to grout your floor up.

Quarry sand is always better as it's dirty sand. If it comes from a Lough like loads of places here it's too clean and won't hold water and goes to fluff.

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Hanson MultiCem also comes in plastic bags and isn't Mastercrete prices

 

Use this calculator as a rough guide but 12 bags cement to 1 bag sand and 450 blocks isn't far off.

 

So 25 bags would give need 2 tonnes sand and 900 blocks laid there or thereabouts. 

 

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8 hours ago, Declan52 said:

Are you going to use white cement in a footing?? 

 

 

No, white cement above dpc for the buff bricks as it is a planning condition. 

 

Quarry price is £19 per ton plus vat but the catch is a flat fee of £54 for delivery on an 11 ton capable wagon. I just want to order enough for the footings and blue engineering bricks below damp. If I only order 3 tons the effective price is nearly £40 per ton, were it not for the mortar colour quandry I would order 10 tons to see me through half the build at an effective price of £25 per ton.

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Factor in losing 15% of the sand to waste as a big unbounded heap ends up everywhere. Does your BM not do it by the bag ..? £5/ton difference is nowt in the big scheme of things and you can keep it covered too 

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28 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Factor in losing 15% of the sand to waste as a big unbounded heap ends up everywhere. Does your BM not do it by the bag ..? £5/ton difference is nowt in the big scheme of things and you can keep it covered too 

 

 

I want to control the source of the sand though I do see your handling logic for the quantity being considered in the footings. I will enquire tomorrow if they ship their sand via local BMs. The quarry office was helpful when I popped in for a chat and they suggested sourcing my sand from Yorkshire if I want to bump my test mortar sample further along the colour scale from grey to a sandy buff.

 

Once the blockwork has started I will have a load of profile wood boards and pegs to create a bund for the sand pile.

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17 hours ago, Declan52 said:

Are you going to use white cement in a footing?? 

Bog standard Portland cement as long as it doesn't say Quinn on the bag.

Don't forget you will need a mix or 2 to grout your floor up.

Quarry sand is always better as it's dirty sand. If it comes from a Lough like loads of places here it's too clean and won't hold water and goes to fluff.

Is any of our local sand *not* from Lough Neagh, @Declan52?

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22 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

Is any of our local sand *not* from Lough Neagh, @Declan52?

I got all mine from a quarry outside Cookstown. I could walk to where they take the sand out of the Lough from my house. It's great for football pitches etc just never liked it when building.

Edited by Declan52
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I’m going to buck the trend here & say don’t bother with plastic bagged cement. In my experience,you have to cover it anyway as the chances of there not being a pin prick hole in the odd bag is zero,so any decent rainfall & you’ve got wasted (more expensive )bags. Spend a few quid on a couple of tarpaulins & get the bags dropped on pallets to keep them off the ground. Tarps will get used again & again as you go through your build,so a sound investment. 

Also,my experience of Rugby cement (albeit some years ago) was that it was horrible-tacky & very hard to do a clean job with. Might be worth doing a trial run in the footings just with one mix of your proposed superstructure mortar & get feedback from your brickie. 

Edited by Brickie
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