Out of date building sand???

[johnny2007]

My neighbour wants to build a 2 courses edge on a path in his garden.
He has got a large plastic container (with lid) full of building sand leftover from another job 4 years ago.
The sand is dry, but clean.
He wants to dispose of it and buy more "fresh" sand.
He's convinced that building sand has a shelf life.
I've never heard of this and I think he's confused with cement about the shelf life.
Have you ever used 4 year old sand?
I personally haven't, but I think it's perfectly fine.
What do you reckon?

 

[jeds]

Isn't all sand about 3 million years old, or thereabouts.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I think you will find it is approx. 4.5 billion years.

Typical builder never good at estimates.



Andy

 

[^woody^]

The sell-by date is different to the use-by date or best before date.

Was it in the freezer?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Was it in the freezer?

It was 2.4 million years ago, ice age!!



Andy

 

[mikeey84]

My neighbour wants to build a 2 courses edge on a path in his garden.
He has got a large plastic container (with lid) full of building sand leftover from another job 4 years ago.
The sand is dry, but clean.
He wants to dispose of it and buy more "fresh" sand.
He's convinced that building sand has a shelf life.
I've never heard of this and I think he's confused with cement about the shelf life.
Have you ever used 4 year old sand?
I personally haven't, but I think it's perfectly fine.
What do you reckon?

I always was told that some sand won't like being sat out in the rain uncovered, and could "go off" after a while

 

[teaboyjim]

I always was told that some sand won't like being sat out in the rain uncovered, and could "go off" after a while

It might be because it can get contaminated

 

[mikeey84]

It might be because it can get contaminated with things

I thought it was to do with certain grit sizes being washed out, but then it could be rubbish@

 

[johnny2007]

It might be because it can get contaminated with things

It's in a plastic container with lid, no rain, no bugs and it's been in there for 4 years.
It's just dry sand.
To me it's perfectly fine.
I just asked because personally I never used sand that had been sitting for long.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Never made sand castles at the beach?? That's being sitting there for billions of years.



Andy

 

[Munroast]

Isn't all sand about 3 million years old, or thereabouts.

some sand will only be hours old, it is continuously made as bigger rocks errode and wear down. But yes the vast vast majority will be millions of years old. I'm not so sure about billions, if it turned to sand that long ago it has probably turned to dust and something else since then. So sand in the environment probably does have a shelf life before in wears down further

Does all sand come from 'sand stone' or can it come from other rocks? Sand stone is sedimentary I think ? from the bottom of old river beds ?

The daft question in the original post reminds me of a lad (boy racer) I knew from years ago, he used to like to let all the air out of his tyres before re inflating them, he argued air would get worn out with all the squishing and squashing it gets going over all the bumps, and swore his car handled better with new unused air in. I'm, 99.99% sure he was wrong on that, but it does occasionally cross my mind.

 

[Old Salt]

Perhaps if he mixed with some of the newer sand it would be okay?

 

[frutbunn]

The daft question in the original post reminds me of a lad (boy racer) I knew from years ago, he used to like to let all the air out of his tyres before re inflating them, he argued air would get worn out with all the squishing and squashing it gets going over all the bumps, and swore his car handled better with new unused air in. I'm, 99.99% sure he was wrong on that, but it does occasionally cross my mind.

Not 100%?? I do that but with tubes in as well, it's to reduce tyre pressures for competition use and snow to increases the footprint area without increasing tyre width, but I leave some air in hence the tubes so the tyres don't push off the rims. Never noticed any difference when pumped back up with fresh air.

 

[bernardgreen]

Never made sand castles at the beach?? That's being sitting there for billions of years.

but the castles fall down after a few days

 

[HERTS P&D]

but the castles fall down after a few days

I think you will find it's when the waves come back in.



Andy