Key To Choose The Right Cement for Your Dream Home

Posted by Radhika Vyas
2
Aug 1, 2016
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They say the key to getting good results in any forte is a good foundation. A good, strong and sturdy foundation makes for betterment in the long run. The same applies for your potential home. Technically, your house is a framework of walls, made of bricks and cement.

After working for half of your life and saving to get that perfect house, you don’t want to compromise with the quality of anything that goes into the making of your dream home.

So, to get the foundation strong and sound, you need the construction material to be reliable and JUST about flawless. This includes an important material that contributes to the strength of your home- cement. Contractors and builders who work in bulk don’t really pay much attention to what goes into the raw materials. But, this is an important facet, you have to take care of.

Sure you want your dream home to look beautiful and all good things but you don’t want to find the middle ground when it comes to durability and strength.

The basic content of cement is limestone and there are different variants of cement, different colours, grades and types.

So, we give you tips to keep handy while choosing the right cement for your dream home:

1.    The right grade
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is what you are looking for to build your home. This comes in different grades, which denotes the strength of the cement. There are 3 basic grades; 33 grade (strength is 33N/mm2), 43 grade (strength is 43N/mm2) and 53 grade (strength is 53 N/mm2).

The 33 grade was used for construction in the normal environment but is non-existent today.

The more commonly used grade of cement is the 43 grade whose compressive strength is more than the 33 grade. Also, it is more versatile and is used on both exterior and interior, for brickwork and also plastering.

The highest grade cement or the 53 grade is only used for high rise buildings where extreme strength is required. Ambuja cement puts the grading very efficiently on their bags.

2.    Colour
Cement is not limited to just one type of colour. Keeping in mind the beautification of the interiors and exteriors, cement comes in 2 main colours; grey and white. The grey cement is employed more for nascent construction and the white cement is used for plastering the interior and exterior walls to perfection, and also to bring out the colour on the walls.

3.    Check the quality of cement
Following ways should give you little tips to check the quality of the cement before you buy:

  1. The cement should float in water for a few minutes before sinking.
  2. It should have a smooth texture when you rub it in between your hands and not have lumps. 
  3. The cement bags should not be open and should have the company seals.
  4. Choose a reputed name in the cement industry like Ambuja cement or ACC cement. This will solve most your problems as the cement has already been lab-tested and is BIS certified. ACC cement very clearly puts their BIS mark on top of their bags.
  5. Avoid purchasing cement bags that have moisture or are older than six weeks of manufacturing.
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