Guides
Cement for a roof slab (chhat dhalai)
A chhat dhalai is reinforced concrete, so what goes into it has to be a cement written for reinforced work: OPC under IS 269:2015, PPC under IS 1489, Portland slag cement under IS 455, or composite cement under IS 16415 inside the limits that standard sets.
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Masonry cement is the one to keep off a slab, and that is the Bureau of Indian Standards saying so in its own cement compendium: masonry cement is cautioned against in reinforced and prestressed concrete work, and in structural concrete for flooring and foundation work. A chhat is reinforced concrete. Jay Shree Infra stacks cement over the counter in Saharsa and out to Supaul and Madhepura, and not every bag is in every name on a given day. Which sack is on the floor the morning of your pour is a phone call, and so is the rate. What does not change from one morning to the next is the cement type your drawing calls for, and that is what is set out below.
The statutory type prints only on the sack. Read the statutory marking and verify the type and grade against your drawing before the bag goes on the vehicle. Naming only the brand in an order does not fix the cement type, and naming the family does not either. Gold, Premium, Concreto and Weather Plus are words a maker prints across the front of a sack, and the statutory type sits in smaller letters underneath it, which is how the plain UltraTech bag answers to OPC in one pack and to PPC in the next.
The list
Five cements, and the Indian Standard on each
The standard each cement is made to, the year BIS last reaffirmed it, and the blend limits that standard fixes.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Cement | Indian Standard | Reaffirmed | Fly ashpercent by mass | Granulated slagpercent by mass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPC | IS 269:2015 | 2020 | no range here | no range here |
| PPC | IS 1489 (Part 1):2015 | 2020 | 15-35 | no range here |
| PSC | IS 455:2015 | 2020 | no range here | 25-70 |
| Composite | IS 16415:2015 | 2020 | no range here | no range here |
| Masonry | IS 3466:1988 | 2023 | no range here | no range here |
Every figure above is from the compendium of cement specifications the Bureau of Indian Standards publishes through its Civil Engineering Department: OPC under IS 269:2015, PPC under IS 1489 (Part 1):2015, Portland slag under IS 455:2015, composite under IS 16415:2015 and masonry under IS 3466:1988. No range here covers two different situations. Against IS 269, IS 3466 and the columns IS 1489 (Part 1) and IS 455 each leave empty, the compendium fixes no range for that constituent, which is a different thing from zero: IS 269 permits limestone, fly ash or slag as performance improvers at the grinding stage and puts no percentage on them. Against composite cement it means something else: a February 2023 amendment to IS 16415 changed the constituent materials that standard covers, and the compendium's own two ranges for it have not caught up with that change, so they are left off the table above; the three declared figures in the section below are the ones to check instead. IS 1489 also carries a Part 2, calcined clay based, with a total pozzolana range of 10 to 25 percent; that is a separate standard and a separate cement, and the PPC row above is Part 1. The compendium holds seventeen cement standards altogether, white cement, oil well cement and high alumina cement among them, written for other work.
Composite cement is the row with a condition attached to it, and it is also the row with the two gaps. The compendium clears composite cement for reinforced concrete construction on three declared figures together: clinker content at least 45 percent, fly ash content at most 25 percent, and 28 day compressive strength at least 43 MPa. Those three are declared by the maker about its own bag, so they are three things to hunt for before a composite sack is bought for a slab, and they are a different thing from the blend limits the footnote explains are missing.
The other four carry no such gate. PPC carries 15 to 35 percent fly ash by mass, and Portland slag cement carries 25 to 70 percent granulated slag, the ranges in the table above. The compendium lists OPC for all types of general construction work, and PPC for everywhere OPC is used except where high early strength is specially wanted. Portland slag cement it lists for marine structures, ports, sewage treatment plants, canal lining, tunnels, piling and the basement of a building, which are the places its resistance to chloride and sulphate attack earns the most. Read those as application lists and never as prohibitions. The one prohibition on those pages is the masonry cement caution.
Numbers on the sack
Where the 43 and the 53 come from, and where they stop
The grade number belongs to OPC and to nothing else on that table. IS 269:2015 covers five grades, OPC 33, OPC 43, OPC 53, OPC 43S and OPC 53S, as the Ministry of Railways set them out in its February 2022 CAMTECH pamphlet on that standard. UltraTech's own OPC page names four of them, 33, 43, 53 and 53-S, and leaves 43S out. Two primary sources, two lists, one sack in front of you, and the sack is what decides which of them you are holding. The Bureau's catalogue record for IS 269:2015 shows no amendment issued against it, so the pamphlet's list is not a list something later has quietly replaced.
PPC has no grade number at all. UltraTech's PPC page says as much, then publishes the figure people are really after: PPC strength is taken as equivalent to OPC 33 grade, at 330 kg per square centimetre. Asking for 53 grade PPC is asking for something nobody prints. Say the type first. Read the grade after it, where the type has one.
The concrete code
IS 456, and where the numbers above come from
A drawing beats every list. Where an engineer has written a cement type, that type is the order, and where no drawing exists the mistri's specification stands in its place. No table decides what goes into your own chhat; the drawing or the mistri does.
IS 456 is the Indian Standard for plain and reinforced concrete, the code an engineer's drawing sits inside. It was published in 2000 and has been amended six times since. A clause read off an old, unamended copy of a standard can be the wrong clause, so the cement types, grades and blend limits above are drawn instead from the compendium the Bureau of Indian Standards keeps current, not from copying out the 2000 text by hand.
Loading a dhalai
What still has to be said after the type
A count, a date and a basis. Cement sells here by the bag or by the tonne, so which one you are on gets fixed at the start of the call. A bag carries the day it was made, printed in the same statutory block as the type, so the date of the pour belongs in the order beside the count. Sariya, cover blocks and binding wire ride out on the same vehicle as the bori, which is worth saying on the first call and not the second.
Tarai after the pour is a subject of its own, and it is worked out figure by figure on the curing (tarai) guide.
Sources
Where the standards and figures above come from
Two documents from the government, and two from a maker publishing about its own bags.
- The compendium of cement specifications, with every blend limit by massBureau of Indian Standards
- UltraTech's OPC page and the grades it namesUltraTech Cement
- UltraTech's PPC page and the strength it publishesUltraTech Cement
- The CAMTECH pamphlet of February 2022, which sets out the five OPC grades of IS 269:2015Ministry of Railways, RDSO
Questions
Dhalai ke cement par sawal
Slab me OPC daalein ya PPC?
Both are written for reinforced work, so your drawing decides between them, not a guess at the counter. The Bureau's compendium lists OPC under IS 269:2015 for all types of general construction work, and PPC under IS 1489 (Part 1) for everywhere OPC is used, except where high early strength is specially wanted. Read us the type on your drawing and we will tell you which sacks on the floor carry it.
Masonry cement ki bori chhat me chal jayegi?
No. The Bureau's own compendium cautions against masonry cement in reinforced and prestressed concrete work, and in structural concrete for flooring and foundation work, and a chhat is reinforced concrete. It is a proper cement under IS 3466 and its job is masonry mortar, rendering and plastering. We do not stock masonry cement at all.
53 grade wala PPC milta hai?
There is no such thing to be had. Grade numbers belong to OPC, where IS 269:2015 covers 33, 43, 53, 43S and 53S. UltraTech's own PPC page publishes PPC strength as equivalent to OPC 33 grade, 330 kg per square centimetre, with no grade designated for PPC itself. So ask for the type first and the grade only where the type has one.
Composite likha hua bag slab me chalega?
Only where three declared figures on it come out right. The compendium clears composite cement under IS 16415 for reinforced concrete construction where declared clinker content is at least 45 percent, fly ash at most 25 percent, and 28 day compressive strength at least 43 MPa. All three come off the sack and the maker's own literature, so read them out to us before the order goes in.
Bag par cement type kis jagah chhapa rehta hai?
In the statutory marking, in smaller letters below the family name across the front. Type, standard and date of manufacture all sit in that one block. Check that block on every bag before it goes on the vehicle, not the brand name printed above it. Ring +91 6202 967 218 and read it out if the letters are hard to place.
Before you order
Have these beside you when you ring
Which cement type has the drawing named?
OPC, PPC, portland slag or composite, and the grade after it where the type carries one. Read us that line and we match a sack to it. Where no drawing exists, tell us what the mistri specified.
What is printed under the brand name on the sack you were shown?
The IS number and the cement type sit in smaller letters below the family name. That printing is the fact. The big word across the front is the maker's own name for the pack.
How many bori, and which day is the dhalai?
The date is the half people forget to say, and the vehicle is chosen against it. Both get settled on one call.
Bag or tonne?
Cement here sells both by the bag and by the tonne. Fix the basis before the figure, because a per bag rate and a per tonne rate are two different conversations at one counter.
Is anything else going on the same vehicle?
Sariya, cover blocks, binding wire and waterproofing liquid all load with the bori. Whether that goes as one vehicle or two gets decided when the first one is booked, so say it on that call.
Contact
The pour date is half of this order
A dhalai is booked for a day, and it is the day and not the count on its own that picks the vehicle. Say the date first, then how many bori, then whether sariya, cover blocks and binding wire are riding out on the same trip. Ring +91 6202 967 218 with those three and the load is made up against the pour instead of against the order.
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