If you are seriously engaged in repairs in your apartment or house and plan to plaster the walls, level the floor, then you need to figure out how to make a cement mortar. Of course, if you are thinking of hiring builders, then delving into the intricacies of the process is not necessary. But if you decide to do all the dirty work yourself, but are not a specialist, then it is better to study the theoretical part to begin with.
For any work you will need fresh cement - this is a special astringent that, when hardened, becomes stone-like. Please note that if it lies down for more than six months, it can absorb moisture, and it will simply become impossible to use it. In order to make a mortar for plaster, you need to find out what cement is made of. To prepare it, you should first mix the purchased binder with sand. Proportions will depend solely on the brand you purchased. So, for cement M-200, 3.5 kg of sand is needed for each kilogram of cement, and for M-400 5 kg will be needed. By the way, not only the amount of the mixture obtained, but also its strength will depend on the brand. For example, for the construction of various military facilities, including missile silos or bunkers, use the M-600.
It is important not only to know the necessary proportions, but also the technology of how to make a cement mortar. After preparing the dry ingredients, pour them into the mixing container in a small layer. Only then add water and mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous mixture is obtained . The quality of the solution is checked as follows: it must adhere to pieces with a shovel, which interfered with it. If he completely drains from it or, conversely, envelops it, then this batch is unsuccessful. In the first case, it turned out to be too thin (skinny, as the builders call it), and in the second, it was too thick (bold).
Knowing what cement is made of, you can prepare in advance all the necessary materials in the right quantities. By the way, it is advisable to know the proportions even in those cases when the builders will do all the work for you. This will help to avoid unnecessary costs, because you can independently control the consumption of materials.
If you want to learn not only about the technology of manufacturing a mixture for plastering, but also about what cement is made of, then you will be interested in the following. The production of this material is a fairly environmentally harmful, laborious and costly process. It begins with the most expensive stage - the extraction of raw materials, which include carbonate rocks: limestone, chalk and others. Raw materials extracted from the bowels of the earth are crushed and grinded.
In the next step, carbonate rocks are mixed with other components and fired. As a result, clinker is formed. If we continue to understand what cement is made of, it will become clear that at this stage its foundation was created. Its further production will depend on the raw materials used and the quality of the source material. In industry, 3 methods have been developed for the manufacture of cement: wet, dry and combined. The first option is used in cases where the raw material is chalk, clay and various iron-containing additives. Grinding the mixture with this method takes place in an aqueous medium, and the output is a suspension with a moisture content of about 30-50%. It is burned in a special oven, after which it is ground into powder. But with the dry method, the components are dried before grinding.