On or about 2007-09-04,
illuminated us with:
I was wondering if anyone could let me know what the correct sand
cement ratio should be for setting hip capping tiles. If you want to
know the background to this see the 'roofing nightmare' thread.

I have a photograph of two sacks of similar size, one almost empty
containing sand and another almost full containing cement left by the
roofers who recently did some work on my property. These sacks suggest
that the roofers used a mixture of *at least* ten parts sand to one
part cement.

I've very rarely mixed my own plain mortar but as a sanity check: I've
always mixed concrete at around 4:2:1 Gravel:sand:cement by volume, so
I'd guess that you need something "richer" than 6:1. Richer because
for an equal volume of sand and gravel there will be a lot more
surface area to the sand. Also because you'd want such mortar to set
stronger than concrete.

And http://www.archifacts.co.uk/html/mor...ication_T1.htm seems
to agree. At a guess for that job you'd bee looking for 1:3 or 1:4.
Could be complicated by using lime of course.

--
Mark
Real email address | Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep,
is mark at | in most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn't know
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