Housing in Southern Africa September 2015

Cement & Concrete

AfriSam’s dry mortar Leading concrete materials company,AfriSam,hasresponded to demands for increased convenience by introducing its premium quality Dry Mortar product to the market.

A mit Dawneerangen from Afri- Sam’s says that immediate ac- cess to an already blended dry mortar solution is very attractive to South Africa’s time-pressed and cost conscious contractors. This product adds to AfriSam’s extensive range of concrete solutions and ensures that contractors have a one-stop solu- tion for all their wet trades, ranging from readymix concrete of varying strengths and specifications to ce- ment, aggregates and Dry Mortar. “The AfriSamDryMortar mix offers contractors a number of benefits in addition to time and cost savings. Using a pre-blended mortar mix will enable optimum product integrity and subsequently quality construc- tion on a project,” he says. “Manual blending of mortar or plaster requires careful attention to ensure that the correct ratios of sand and cement are used and incorrect blending or mixing will affect the quality of the final product and may result in cracking of plaster. The Dry Mortar solution alleviates human er- ror and goes a long way to ensuring quality workmanship – something contractors have identified as one of their greatest concerns these days,” says Dawneerangen. This Class II mortar has been spe- cially engineered as a dual purpose mix that can be used for both mortar and plaster. It will meet theminimum strength requirement of 5 MPa at 28 days with ease. The product is supplied in 10 or 20 ton silos. This is a space saving advan- tage on a construction or building site as it effectively eliminates the need to accommodate large stockpiles of sand and frees the area normally used to store bagged cement. The 10 ton silo is delivered fully loaded from the AfriSam facility, while the 20 ton silo is delivered to site empty and filled via bulk tanker. Discharge into the silo is conducted using a closed conveyance system which ensures

product integrity and the elimination of dust during the process. Not only does this guarantee optimum qual- ity of the product, but the process also complies with all the requisite environmental regulations. On smaller contracts that do not make use of automated systems, the dry mortar can be discharged from the silo directly intowheelbarrows or other mixing vessels. Other options include attaching amixer and awater connection to the silo so that when dry mortar is discharged, it comes into contact with the water and de- livers a product that is ready to use. This wet product is then dis- charged into a utility unit such as a dumper or concrete hopper. Where high rise construction is taking place

and there is a need to convey the mixed mortar upwards, a mortar pumping system may be connected to the silo to facilitate the easy trans- fer of the product. Dawneerangen says special care is taken to ensure that the sand is completely dry and free of excessive clay and other deleterious material ensuring that a product of only the highest quality is produced. The sand is then blended with AfriSam’s All Purpose Cement in a controlled plant environment. AfriSam Dry Mortar has already been introduced to customers in Gauteng with much success and will be rolled out to the other provinces shortly. Customers can obtain more information on 0860 110 010. ■

September 2015