Some useful tips to stockpile cement on the construction site

The cement should be preserved in a proper manner since scarcity of care may lead to setting of cement or degradation in its strength because of partial setting.

The following safety measures should be taken for the storage of cement in the job site :-

Walls, roof and floor of the building where cement will be preserved should be entirely water-resistant and leak proof.

In case the cement is preserved in newly constructed building, then its interior should be dried properly prior to make storage.

There should be minimum numbers of windows and doors and windows should have been perfectly built-in as well as kept shut.

The cement bags should be piled on wooden planks devoid of dry concrete floor. The spacing should be maintained as 150 mm to 200 mm over the floor.

The bags should be piled beyond walls. A distance of 25 cm or 600 mm all around should be maintained among the exterior walls and the piles.

The floor may contain lean cement concrete or two layers of dry bricks which are placed on well compacted ground.

The cement bags should be hoarded not far from each other so that air circulation is reduced.

Bag should be stored in header stretcher manner and not in excess of 15 bags high to get rid of lumping under pressure.

The width of the stack should be maintained between four bags length or 3 meters.

In stacks over 8 bags high, the cement bags should be placed back and forth length-wise and cross-wise, in order to fasten the stacks together and reduce the risk of toppling over.

At the time of delivering cement, it is suggested not to pull out bags from one tier only. Turn away two or three tiers.

Each inward shipment should be stored individually and a placard providing date of arrival of the consignment should have been pinned to it to recognize the age of cement. It will help in preventing dead storage.

For temporary storage at job site, the cement bags should not be piled on the ground. Least number of required bags should be stocked upon raised dry platform and covered with sheets.

While preserving cement for a prolonged time span or throughout the monsoon, fully encircle the stack with a water resistant casing like polyethylene.

Various types of cement should be stacked and stockpiled independently.