different companys for cement

[Joelb]

Hi all this is my first post on here i have looked over the site for months now seeing what people are doing and projects so now i need some help thought i would ask you lot.

i have seen people using different companys cement for example blue circle and hansons with the red castle on it, is there any difference when using these as a mortar mix?
i am a brick layer by trade but only ever worked on new builds where we have used ready mix mortar.
i am using a 5:1 ratio mix for the brickwork above ground and i dont want to have a white mortar joint is there a better cement to use and better sand for changing the colour?

Cheers

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You'll find that there is a slight difference in the colours/tones that the OPC grey cements will give, if you change manufactures/brands.
Blue Circle, Rugby, Castle etc will all differ in tone, there will be very little difference in the newtons of strength they will offer, they are all usually about the same.
So using different brands of grey cement will alter the colour of your mortars, regardless of the sand used. It may only be a slight difference in some cases and over time could tone down.
But I would suggest for projects you do do, I would stick with the same branding of cement for any visual work on that particular project.

 

[Joelb]

thank you for the quick reply, yes i will be using the same brand from the same company all ordered at once so same batch hopfully ect.
i have always bought blue circle beacuse its been everywhere so easy to buy really. just seen some people near us using the hansons castle stuff in black backs with red castle so was looking at the colour of there joints. i will wait for them to dry outto get a proper colour

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I have done a lot of pre-cast concrete work in the past and one of my main duties was to do colour matching for artificial stone.
I found that the white portland cements, normally showed very little difference in colour tones, but in general the different brands of OPC greys did, although the crushing strengths didn't. The bags should be marked up with there expected crushing stengths something like 42.5 newtons. Now with the market is expanding and more cements are coming from places like Spain and Turkey, the colour variation has grown.
So it's a wise choice to stick to what you know and keep to the same brand per project/build, as they can class. Of course there is nothing wrong with using different brands of cement and types of sands to create different tones/textures and colours but this will be trial and error, until you have managed to work out mix designs for each product.