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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 1:55 pm
by Paul123
This may be a really dumb question but on the other hand.....
If I collect a ton of sand in my trailer on a wet day do the merchants compensate for the weight of the water in the sand? I only ask because I manually shifted some building sand at the weekend and realised just how much water it could hold.
Thanks
Paul
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:54 pm
by Tony McC
What do you think? :p
It actually doesn't make a great deal of difference, but damping down the sand is one of the oldest tricks in the BM book. Getting a sand to retain sufficient water to make a really effective cost saving is not as easy as it might seem, especially with coarser aggregates, such as a grit sand. You're more likely to be diddled due to inaccurate weighing than over-dampened sand.
Some years ago, one of the BMs we used on a regular basis always reckoned each 'scoop' of sand in the bucket of their loading shovel was half-a-ton. It was there, or thereabouts, but it was never bang on half-a-ton. Anyway, some pedantic twit complained to Trading Standards, who then descended on the BM, did a load of measuring and testing and declared that each scoop was actually averaging summat like 450kg, and not 500kg.
Under threat of legal action, the BM changed their sales tactics and started to sell sand by the 'scoop' and not by weight. It used to be 5 quid per half-ton. It was changed to 5 quid per scoop. Who won? ???
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:12 pm
by essexpaver
when i buy sand for jobs i always but loose call me wrong but i always see ton bags as being under loaded maybey its just me whn i see the losse spread it looks bigger but it cant look bigger all the time can it lol