How To Calculate The Quantity Of Sand Needed For Your Building Projects

How do you calculate the quantity of sand and the number of trips of sand needed for your building project? Sand is a basic necessity in any building process. It is used to make blocks, fill up spaces, and make concrete.

It is unavoidable and thus should be considered greatly when coming up with the cost of the building. The size of the building as well as location, determines how much sand would be used in the building process. Sand also plays a huge role in the structural integrity of any building.

Calculating sand is used to estimate how much sand a particular construction project needs depending on what type of sand is used. A cubic meter of sand weighs around 1.58-1.78 tons depending on its type.

In this piece, we’ll be explaining in detail, how to calculate the quantity of sand and the number of trips of sand needed for your building project. Please read on to find out how to calculate the quantity of sand and the number of trips of sand needed for your building project.

Types of Sand

There are different types of sand categorized on the basis of pebble size, grain, and application. They are listed below;

Graded Sand

It has moderately sized grain particles and contains coarse particles. It is not uniform and the sand is graded between the 600μm sieve and the 150μm sieve.

Standard Sand

This type of sand is nearly pure and is made up of natural silica. It is primarily used in mortars and for testing hydraulic cement. It consists of entirely naturally rounded grains.

20-30 Sand

It consists of local natural silica as a primary constituent and has a low water content. This type of sand is often uncrushed and occurs in round forms. This sand is graded to pass an 850μm sieve and be retained on a 600μm sieve.

How To Calculate The Quantity Of Sand And Number Of Trips Of Sand Needed For Your Building Project

In this section, you’ll find a detailed explanation of how to calculate the quantity of sand and the number of trips of sand needed for your building project. Also, see the Prices Of Trips Of Sand In Nigeria.

Calculating The Quantity Of Sand Needed

The amount of sand needed for any building can be calculated by calculating the volume of the area it is to be filled into.

For regular-shaped areas such as square and rectangular areas, you can simply use a simple mathematical formula ( length X breadth X depth) to find out the volume of that particular shape and calculate. 

For irregularly shaped areas, divide them into small, regularly shaped portions and then add the cumulative volumetric areas of the respective shapes. 

The quantity of sand to be used can be calculated in the steps listed below: 

1. Calculate the volume of the shape of the area it is to be filled into.

2. Multiply the obtained volume by the density of the given sand. In most cases, the density is 1600 kg/m3 

3. For the cost, multiply the cost of sand per cubic unit by the volume of sand. Usually, it is done at cost per tonne. One cubic metre of sand weighs about 1.54-1.78 tonnes.

Thus, a one-bedroom apartment with:

• Length: 3600mm or 3.6m
• Breadth: 3000mm or 3m
• Depth: 900mm or 0.9m.

The volume is 3.6 X 3 X 0.9= 9.72 m3. 

For the cost, the cost of the sand will be multiplied by the volume of sand.

How To Calculate The Number Of Trips Of Sand Needed For The Building 

The volume of a 5-Ton tipper with 6 three is = 3.81m3

Now to get the number of trips of sand needed to sandfill a one-room apartment, we divide the volume by the volume of a trip of sand.

Thus, since a 5-ton tipper has a volume of 3.813. We will need 9.72/3.81 = 2.6 trips which leads to an estimate of 3 trips for a one-bedroom apartment with a volume of 9.72 m3

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