Sand Filling is a stage of building construction arrived once the building has reached the DPC Level. In Nigeria, the most common type of DPC is that which takes off after the first 4 blocks are laid on site. It is at this level the construction team starts sourcing for filling sand.
The picture above shows a building at DPC Level
Filling sand is bought from sand beaches, it is conveyed to your site by trucks, dumpers or tippers as they're commonly called. It is however very important that you as a builder, a contractor or client knows the exact volume of filling sand to buy for a project and that is why this is a very important article for you.
I am going to be using a 3 bedroom flat as a case study and i expect you to have gained an accurate knowledge on how to correctly carry out Filling sand calculation.
How to Carry Out Filling Sand Calculation
While a lot of estimators would use software and other means to estimate for filling sand, i love to do it manually because it helps me manage things properly, also, i have a lot of African Audience who may not have these software handy
 |
Floor Plan 3 Bedroom 2 Bath
|
So we have our floor plan uploaded.
Requirements for sand filling calculation
In order to carry out sand filling calculation, an estimator must have;
1. The floor plan of the building in question as this would help know the dimensions.
2. Sectional View of the building under Consideration
Recommended: Cost Of Fencing a Plot Of Land
Knowing the dimensions will enable a sand filling estimator work out the areas and volumes necessary to give you a better estimates
Having the Sectional View makes it possible to know the prescribed or specified height of DPC
In order to carry out sand filling calculation properly, I've taken the time out to pick out the dimensions of the various sections of the building under review
Let's not forget the height of the wall for this project is 36 inches or 3ft or 914mm which is obtained by multiplying the height of block (9 inches) by 4 (Number of coaches)
Thus, 9 inch x 4 coaches of block = 36 inches
Next is to convert 36 inches to mm which is done by multiplying 36 by 25.4
Thus, 36 x 25.4 = 914.4mm
Now we know the depth of our sand fill as 914mm or 0.914 meters
Let's proceed to calculate the total area that will receive the fill
Recommended: Septic Tank Estimation
How To Estimate Area For Sand Filling Calculation
Below is a table i have carefully created by picking out the dimensions of the various sections of the project under consideration
Section
|
Dimension
(m)
|
Area
(m2)
|
Volume (Area x 0.914) (m3)
|
Masters Bedroom
|
6.450 x 2.775
|
17.898
|
16.40
|
Kitchen
|
2.400 x 3.350
|
8.04
|
7.34
|
Varandah
|
2.500 x 1.200
|
3.00
|
2.74
|
Dinning
|
2.150 x 2.500
|
5.36
|
4.89
|
Sitting Room
|
3.675 x 4.150
|
15.25
|
13.94
|
Varandah
|
0.900 x 4.150
|
3.74
|
3.42
|
Room 1
|
3.600 x 3.125
|
11.25
|
10.28
|
Room 2
|
3.600 x 3.125
|
11.25
|
10.28
|
WC/Bath
|
1.400 x 2.000
|
2.80
|
2.56
|
Lobby
|
0.825 x 3.600
|
2.97
|
2.72
|
Total
|
|
|
74.54
|
Table 1 Showing multiplication of Length and breadth to obtain the area, multiplication of area with height of wall and Thus the total Volume (74.54m³)
From table 1 above, it could be seen that the length of Masters bedroom was multiplied with its width or breadth to obtain the area of the room after which the area was multiplied by 0.914m ( Height of wall) to give us the Volume of sand required to fill up our master's bedroom.
This approach was repeated for other sections!
After all Analysis, a total of 74.54m³ (Cubic Meters) were obtained.
What this means is that there is need for 75 cubic meter for sand filling of the building to DPC Level.
Well, we are not stopping there!
The aim of Sand Filling Calculation is to help a contractor, student, Client understand the number of trips of sand to buy for the project.
From what we already know about tippers or dumpers, it is a fact that the smallest trip of sand has about 3.81m³ of sand. You can see my article on Quantity of sand For filling a Room
So we are going to divide the total volume of material as we've calculated in Table 1 above by the volume of a trip of sand
Total Volume of Material = 74.54m³
Volume of trip of sand = 3.82m³
Thus, 74.54/3.82 = 19.5 TRIPS of sand
Since we can never buy half a trip of sand, we call it 20 Trips of sand
Note: If you are using any of the ACTROS Trucks which carry 10 or 20 tonnes, then you are to request for 10 trips only
Things You Must Know
The Estimate above was obtained by considering the dimensions of each section of the building - rooms, sitting room, kitchen. You may have a building with different dimensions which means the volume of sand required will surely be different from what i have here.
Thus, if you need a sand filling calculation done for your project, be sure to send a copy of your building plan in order to help the estimator estimate properly!
DPC level differs and depends on the terrain. For this project i chose 0.914m or 4 blocks high dpc. I Might decide to use 6 blocks high on another site.
DPC is usually specified after considering a lot of factors such as the topography and location of building
Conclusion
If you are looking for a way to carryout sand filling calculation, the content on this page will definitely help you achieve this. But if the dimensions of your building matches that used above, then feel free to buy as much trips of sand as estimated above as i am confident it'll cover the entire project with no excesses.
Love what you read?
Quickly let us know if you have any further questions by giving us a few info today
