Cannot find a source of grey (light clour) sand for pointing mortar

[Andrew Edmondson]

The pointing on my 1950s house is a light colour.
I can only get yellow/orange or red building sand.
I need a couple of bags.
Any ideas?

 

[lostinthelight]

Lime in the mix can make it lighter as can different brands of cement

 

[Andrew Edmondson]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

 

[^woody^]

Sand does not come in grey. The grey colour comes from the cement.

 

[datarebal]

aggregate colour can vary from different areas. brand of cement has a bearing on mortar colour as others have said.
likewise limes too..
if you are matching a lime mix ----https://www.lime-mortars.co.uk/lime-mortar/guides/mortar-matching

 

[StephenOak]

Sand does not come in grey

I'm not being awkward, but surely sand can come in pretty much any colour, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum_Bay .

Commonly available commercial sand does not come in grey, but a specialist supplier may have different colours than a builder's merchant.

Possibly what the OP needs is just a paler than average yellow sand.

 

[^woody^]

I'm not being awkward, but surely sand can come in pretty much any colour, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum_Bay .

Commonly available commercial sand does not come in grey, but a specialist supplier may have different colours than a builder's merchant.

Possibly what the OP needs is just a paler than average yellow sand.

Sand can be dyed, but it's not dyed grey to get grey mortar, as like I said, the standard grey mortar comes from red or buff sand and normal grey cement determines the level of greyness.

 

[StephenOak]

Sand can be dyed, but it's not dyed grey to get grey mortar

And I did not say that it is. Sand is very finely ground up stone, stone comes in all sorts of colours so sand can also come in all sorts of colours / shades.

A bright red sand with light grey cement will not give a particularly grey mortar, but a (very) pale yellow sand may well do so. That is what I suggested.

BTW

Sand does not come in grey.

https://www.specialistaggregates.com/mortar-sand-light-grey-granite-fine-collect-p-2157.html

 

[^woody^]

A bright red sand with light grey cement will not give a particularly grey mortar,

What about the not so bright red sand?

Hang on I'll just check down the street .... yes mortar looks grey to me. I'll also check on every house I pass on my travels this week.

https://www.specialistaggregates.com/mortar-sand-light-grey-granite-fine-collect-p-2157.html

The clue there is "granite fine"

You seem to working on the premise that the OP's house was built with some random dyed grey sand (in the 1950's no less) and that's how it got it's grey colour. Now not wanting to be presumptuous, I suspect that it was sand from the local pit (no B&Q or transport hubs in those days), and normal OPC - from which it got its colour.

 

[StephenOak]

Woody,

You seem to want to pick nits and to create an argument out of nothing. I don't have the inclination or time for that time so I shall just respond to a couple of points and then stop.

You said that no grey sand is available whatsoever and that whatever sand is used the cement will make it grey. I was merely pointing out that sand is physically available in all sorts of colours & shades but one might need to go to specialist to find something very different from the norm.

The OP did not say 'grey and nothing but grey' but asked for "grey (light clour) sand", so I suggested trying to find a paler than usual yellow, rather than a deeper colour, e.g. bright red.

Maybe the "sand from the local pit" that was originally used happened to be paler than usual yellow (rather than red), hence the mortar is paler than usual.

And the the only premise I am working on is that the purpose of this site is for people to ask questions and for other people to try and help them.

 

[SFK]

Andrew
Images of sand colours from different shops (from a previous discussion):
https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/white-mortar-suggested-mixes.459515/#post-3651176

 

[^woody^]

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Our local builders merchant stocks rusty red sand, a yellow ochre coloured sand and a light brown (sandy coloured) sand. They are a bit old fashioned, though. Oddly a lot of the older stone built houses round here have grey mortar joints. Even the house at the top of our street that a local brickie is repainting gas grey mortar. Wonder how he did that?