Washed, Packing, Coastal or Ivory: A Plain Guide to Sand Grades

Sand is the material people most often order the wrong grade of. It all looks like sand in the tipper, but the four grades we stock behave very differently once they are in the ground — and the wrong one can affect drainage, mortar strength, or how well a paved area holds up over a few Melbourne winters.

Washed Sand — clean and screened

Washed Sand has had silt and fine particles removed. That cleanliness is what you are paying for: where sand purity affects the strength or finish of the result, washed is the grade to use.

Use it for: concreting, filling paver joints, and general construction work where a clean, consistent product is required.

Packing Sand — the general-purpose one

Packing Sand is the economical all-rounder. Its consistent texture makes it easy to spread and compact evenly, which is exactly what you want in a bedding layer.

Use it for: bedding pavers, backfilling, pipe bedding and trench backfill, general concreting, and bedding beneath retaining wall blocks. It is the sand plumbers and builders across Melbourne order most.

Coastal Brick Sand — for mortar and render

Coastal Brick Sand is a fine, light-coloured sand with a smooth texture that mixes readily into mortar and render.

Use it for: bricklaying, rendering, mortar mixes and paving joints — any job where the sand needs to be workable by hand and consistent in colour.

Ivory Brick Sand — when the colour shows

Ivory Brick Sand is a premium fine sand in a light ivory tone. It does the same structural job as Coastal, and you choose it for appearance.

Use it for: bricklaying and rendering on feature walls, decorative mortar work, and any finishing application where the mortar colour is part of the look.

Picking the right one

If the job is…	Order
Bedding pavers or backfilling a trench	Packing Sand
Concreting, or filling joints between pavers	Washed Sand
Bricklaying or rendering	Coastal Brick Sand
Bricklaying where mortar colour matters	Ivory Brick Sand

Two things worth checking before you order

• Bedding sand is not a base. Sand is the levelling layer that sits on top of a compacted crushed rock base. It is not a substitute for one — pavers bedded straight onto sand over soft ground will move.
• Fine sands blow and wash. If the sand is going to sit exposed for a week before you use it, cover it. A tarp and a few bricks saves losing a chunk of the pile to one wet weekend.

Quantities

Sand is sold by the cubic metre like everything else. A paver bedding layer is usually 25–30mm, so a 20m² patio needs around 0.6m³ for bedding — measure the area, multiply by the depth in metres, and add a little for the sand that inevitably ends up on the driveway.

Browse the Sand collection, or if you're weighing up two grades for the same job, call 1300 21 21 11 and we'll tell you which one we'd send.