Sand Colour

A couple of years ago I brought some sand from b and Q and it was really red - so much so that it dried pink even at 5-1. I live in the midlands and not sure if they use local sand which may be of a certain colour, I found that sharp sand was less red and dried a "normal cement colour" .
Zoom to today and I now notice that the B&Q supplier has changed to Tarmac and wondering is anyone else has had issues with colour and have got on better with tarmac brand.
problem is with the covid issue I can not get into a store and look at a bag colour.

aveatry said:

A couple of years ago I brought some sand from b and Q and it was really red - so much so that it dried pink even at 5-1. I live in the midlands and not sure if they use local sand which may be of a certain colour, I found that sharp sand was less red and dried a "normal cement colour" .
Zoom to today and I now notice that the B&Q supplier has changed to Tarmac and wondering is anyone else has had issues with colour and have got on better with tarmac brand.
problem is with the covid issue I can not get into a store and look at a bag colour.

Click to expand...

There are several different quarries offering different building sand. Quarries local to builders merchants will no doubt supply those merchants. A yellow sand produces a grey mortar finish and a red sand a reddish/pink finish and one that will even produce a sandy coloured finish. Builders usually select the appropriate sand for the house they are working on.

Bagged sand that is sold in Sheds could come from anywhere and will be last thing any employee of said sheds will have the faintest clue about. You will be met with a blank stare from most employees, if you asked about colour and continuity of colour will be of little importance to Shed bosses. More about price.

Upshot is - go to a builders merchants and look at their open bays or tonne bags of sand.

Yeh my local b and Q sand is very red - or at least it was but I can not get in because of covid.

An update on this.
Although the name on the bags has changed the sand is still deep red. I needed it to repoint some slabs - I find a wet mix lasts longer, the the best option I found was to mix the deep red building sand with kiln dried paving sand which is very light in colour. 50/50 mix and the result was a proper concreety colour when dried and not pink.