Mixing cement and ratio's

[deefadog]

Hi for all my cementing jobs I use the building sand from B&Q (because it very close to whare i live) and the blue circle cement.

I would like to know basic ratios for different jobs like:

building a wall etc:

general patch up jobs:

dry mix for in between slabs:

I usuall mix it 3 sand to 1 cement and add a bit of washing up liquid to make it all stick together. is this the correct way of doing it? I Also always soak the surface i will be cementing against with water.

Any other basic tips will be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[s999]

My builder uses 1 part cement with 4 part sand (for building a concrete block wall) and he adds some waterproofer to that.
He also used two different types of sand........ normal building sand and red sand. So he has a 1:1:3 ratio of cement:red sand:building sand.

With rendering you can use 4:1 or 5:1 (depending on whether its the first coat or the second coat....... dunno which is which though).

 

[deefadog]

Thanks for the info

take care

 

[PowerTool]

I normally do 5:1 for general mortar,4:1 for pointing
And it's worth getting proper plasticizer instead of washing-up liquid,as the salts in it are not ideal to have in your mortar.