One of the primary ingredients of sand is silica. This is a naturally occurring material that is found in nearly a quarter of the Earth’s crust. Kaiser, the guy who took the attached pic said I should use an orange sand but he cannot remember the mix. When trying with yellow sand, the mortar comes out extremely light grey, even on a 3:1 mix. When I try more orange/red sand we get a bit of a warmer tint through. Sand from the Sahara that fell overnight and covered the snow at the Piau-Engaly ski resort in southwestern France

orange glow - The Telegraph Saharan dust storm shrouds Europe in orange glow - The Telegraph

One important note is that for any concreting or mortar applications, there should be absolutley no more than 4% silt present in the sand. Next, it’s a waiting game! The jug should be left for at least 3 hours for everything to settle. Once settled, all you need to do then is measure the layer of silt that has settled on top of the sand. One final point to note with the sand used in construction is that it should be as clean and free from impurities (soil, clay etc) as possible and also, as uniform in terms of grain size as possible depending on the type you are using. Why Does Sand Come in Different Colours? Now that you know why some sand is a different colour to other sand you may also be thinking, why would it suddenly change colour even though I’m getting it form the same place?Keeping with the theme of the name describing where a given type of sand is sourced from, jointing sand or beach sand is collected mostly from beaches and areas around coastlines. This is due to the fact that if there is a greater silt content then this can seriously effect the structural integrity of the concrete it’s used in. As a general rule, sand is classified as such if its particles range from 2mm at largest down to 0.06mm at their smallest.

Different Types of Sand and What They Should be Used for Different Types of Sand and What They Should be Used for

Richard Miles, of the Met Office, said: “We don’t expect significant impacts - the most likely would be on the cloudscapes at sunset, but as conditions are likely to be generally overcast and wet for much of the day this is unlikely to amount to much. There are no air quality warnings. With the above in mind and the fact that steel is widely used in the building industry, I’m sure you can see why this type of sand needs to be kept well away from any structural steel as it will cause it to corrode in a relatively short space of time. Meteorologists added that the dust often led to dramatic, beautiful sunsets but these might not be visible on this occasion due to wet weather and heavy cloud cover. If it helps, I am looking for the sandy colour that this chap was able to get in his "this is how it turned out" picture (but funnily enough he wanted more grey!): After giving half a bag of sand to a neighbour, I bought exactly the same red/orange Tarmac builders sand again and the mix is drying light grey.

With this in mind, sand should be treated as a precious resource and wastage kept to a minimum, not only to preserve the sand itself, but to also minimize the environmental impact that goes with having to supply billions of tonnes of sand globally. The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our

Sand 15kg - Orange Coloured Sand 15kg - Orange

Due to the fact that beach sand is collected from coastal regions, it does contain the afore mentioned salts that absorb atmospheric moisture and cause damp issues. Due to this it is not used widely in construction. Desert Sand: Sourced from desert areas and not suitable for construction uses due to grains being too fine and overly smoothed at present, although some are developing concrete substitutes using desert sand Aside from the size and shape of grain and where the sand originated from another very important fact that should be considered is how clean the sand actually is. By this we mean establishing its silt content. One of the other key constituents of sand is Feldspar. Feldspar is an extremely common group of minerals that makes up nearly three quarters of the Earth’s surface. As we have mentioned, if it’s of prime importance that your mortar does match the colour of the existing mortar then you can add certain dyes and tints that will help you colour-match it.

It’s primarily used in making concrete as due to the shape of the grains, it binds extremely well to form a tough and solid surface, but due to the size and shape of particles, not that smooth. Aside from the main or common types of sand above, there are other less common type available that are used mostly in specialist applications: In terms of colouring, builders sand normally tends to be a light grey colour and can in some instances appear almost white. The reason for this is down to where the sand has come from. Sand produced in one area of the country may have a slightly higher iron-oxide content, giving it a reddy orange appearance, where as sand from another area of the country may feature more coral or shell content giving it a whiter appearance.