Construction tips for measuring quantity of cement and sand in Mortar

It is essential to find out the quantity of cement mortar for evaluating therate of brickwork and plaster or computing masonry work for a building or structure.

Cement mortar is applied in different ratios which range 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:6, 1:8 etc.

Estimation of quantity of cement mortar in brickwork and plaster: In order to estimate the cement mortar, one shouldconsider that we use 1m3 of cement mortar. The calculation method is described below:

1. Estimate the dry volume of materials necessary for 1m3 cement mortar. As there may be voids in sands, one should consider that materials contain 60% voids. Therefore, for 1m3 of wet cement mortar, 1.6m3 of materials are necessary.
2. Now the volume of materials applied in cement mortar will be estimated on the basis of its ratios.

Let’s consider, the ratio of cement and sand in mortar is 1:X, where X denotes the volume of sand necessary.

Then, the volume of sand necessary for 1:Xratio of 1m3 cement mortar will become as follow :-

3. Volume of cement will be estimated as:

As the volume of 1 bag of cement is 0.0347 m3, so the number of bag of cement is estimated as:

Illustration: For cement mortar of 1:6, the estimated quantity is: Sand quantity:

Quantity of cement (in bags):

Volume of cement =

Ref.: theconstructor.org

Therefore, number of bags essential = = 6.58 bags.