Batching of Cement:

Cement is always measured by weight in kilogram. Cement is commonly available in bags of 50 kg each. The volume of one bag of cement (i.e. 50 kg) is considered as 35 litres. For small or less significant works, cement is commonly not weighed and conveniently can be considered as 50 kg per bag. However, there is always a possibility of these bags being under weight as there are chances of loss of cement from these bags during their handling/transporting from place to place. Sometimes this loss of cement may be of the order of 2-5 kg or even more. Any variation in the quantity of cement will lead to variation in water cement ratio hence the strength of concrete. Therefore, it is always advisable that even for small or less important works the weight of cement bags should be checked randomly. For major and important works, where design concrete mix is used, the cement should be actually weighed for each batch.

During batching of cement, presence of any sort of lumps should be closely observed. If these lumps are so hard that they cannot be crushed by hand then various tests of cement should be performed in order to ensure its quality.