Tips on Selecting the Best Cement

If you are planning to construct a structure or perform renovation work in your home, you will need to choose cement. However, selecting a cement bag is not as easy as simply going to the hardware store and picking just any cement bag that you lay your eyes on. You have to make sure that the cement is of the best quality and help enhance the longevity of the construction.

Besides having knowledge of different grades of cement, a consumer should also keep note of a few things. In earlier articles, we have already discussed various grades of cement. Featured here are some tips that will help you buy the best quality cement:

• Make sure that you choose to buy from a reputed manufacturer.
• Check if the cement bag features BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) mark. BIS mark ensures that the cement manufacturer conforms to the quality standards and that the cement is of optimum quality.
• Consider buying the grade of the cement that you wish to use for the construction.
• Don’t buy cement bags that are hand stitched. They should be stitched with machine stitching only. Avoid buying cement bags that are torn and stitched later.
• The bag should feature the manufacturer’s name, trademark, and manufacturing date.
• Don’t buy cement bags that are older than 6 weeks from the date of manufacturing.

Checking the quality of the cement

It goes without saying that one should only consider buying the best quality cement for construction. However, not many people are aware of the quality of cement the builder is using. Although properties like soundness, fineness, setting time and compressive strength are tested in the laboratory, certain things need to be verified on own.

Tips for checking the quality of the cement

• Upon inserting your hand in the cement bag, it should give you a cool feeling.
• The color of cement should be greenish grey in color.
• The cement should not have any lumps or dust
• To check the quality of cement, throw a small quantity in a bucket of water. The cement should float in the water for a few minutes before sinking. The cement that sinks immediately indicates the presence of impurities.
• Checking the toughness of the cement – take some cement, pour some water, prepare a paste and give it a square shape. Immerse the piece slowly into a bucket of water and ensure it does not lose shape.
• Make sure that cement bags at hardware stores are placed in a dry place, away from damp and wet places.

We hope this information helps you select the best quality of cement for construction.