Developing Bespoke Sands
We create our bespoke sands with a process that splits the feed sand into three components -- coarse, medium and fine -- and blends these components to a specified ratio to produce the desired final product.
Blending limits
No matter what grading you choose, it must lie within the limits of the coarsest and finest sand constituents. Check this by setting the coarse:medium:fine proportions to 1:0:0 (to obtain the coarsest possible grading), and then to 0:0:1 (for the finest). A grading outside this range can be created, but this necessitates blending on-site and introducing another - possibly coarser - product, such as a 5mm single sized aggregate, or a sand from another source. Contact us for more information.
Base sands
The three base sands from which our blends are derived comprise a coarse prime sand (3.35 - 0.3mm) which gives a mortar stability under load; a medium prime sand (0.6 - 0.15mm) which comprises the bulk of the mortar; and a fine filler sand (0.3 - 0.06mm), which particularly affects the mix's water retention.
Other factors in developing a bespoke sand
Although the grading - more accurately termed the particle size distribution - of a sand is a very important feature, other features can also be important to the acceptability of a sand. Chemical properties such as lime content, chloride content or sulphate content could be vitally important in some circumstances. Colour or colour uniformity is important for pigmented mixes; particle shape can be influential in sportsfield construction - especially when dealing with artificial turf. Organic, mineral or chemical residues can cause discoloration of plasters or renders but would not affect paving sands in small quantities. See our spectral analysis for a general idea of the composition of our sand. If you are unsure about your requirements, please contact us for more details.
Small quantities
Unfortunately, it is not usually cost-effective to reset our plant for orders below about 1000 tonnes, but even small quantities can be blended by you on site from a combination of separately available materials. In any blend produced by our hydrosizing plant, the constituents comprise a maximum of three materials -- each of which can be supplied separately. Choose a combination using the blending applet provided and order the sands separately for blending on site. Use fixed volume containers as gauge boxes to control the volumes of materials accurately as they are loaded into the mixer, and use a pan mixer if possible to ensure a homogenous mix.
Now that you are familiar with the issues involved in developing a bespoke sand, why not develop your own specification with our interactive blending applet?
