Unusable sand - Can sand become unusable?

[jester]

Hello folks, I have a somewhat odd question that I am struggling to find info on.

Last week a work colleague of mine told me he was getting rid of some 'old' sand that a builder told him was unusable. He says that it has mould on/in it and that it can't be used.

I have never heard of this and wondered under what circumstances sand became unusable?

The reason for the question is that I have two hippo sacks of sand in the garage from a delayed slab paving project that spent a while outside in the elements and assumed that it would be usable even with some odd bits of detritus in it.

Steve O.

[lutonlagerlout]

at worst it could be sieved
cant see how an inorganic material can become unusable
difficult to use or unable to guarantee are different
LLL

[dig dug dan]

I have a bay back at the yard where all my leftover sand gets tipped from various jobs. Its a mixture of soft, sharp and plastering sand.
When i first made my yard, the farmer had a pile of sand that had been there so long, it was covered in weeds. I sieved it and chucked it in my bay.
I use the sand for laying paving on when it is a job for a family member (cheap) or myself, (even cheaper). It is absolutely fine to use, and has set no problem.
I wouldn't us it for laying bricks, but underneath paving its perfectly ok.
Sand has been in the ground for millions of years, so a few years in a tonne sack is not going to cause it to deteriorate!

[jester]

Thanks for the replies - my thoughts were much the same.Sadly the same can't be said of the cement which I took to the tip some while ago.

As it is, I shovelled the sand onto some weed control fabric and left it on the floor of the garage to completely dry and then gradually sieved it into the hippo sacks (the farmer next door has an ash tree and it had a load of 'seeds' that I wanted to get rid of).

Steve O.

[Big Phil]

as LLL says, sieve out the crap and it should be fine. quarries would be out business if a shelf life was placed on natural sand.