Unit Weight of Different Building Materials

Unit weight is the weight per unit volume. Unit weight is expressed in KG / L or KG/㎥ or KN/㎥. We know that volume is measured in terms of liters or ㎥ and weight in terms of kilos or kN. 

Unit weight, also known as specific weight, is the total weight of a substance in a single unit volume.

The specific weight (y) of a material is also defined as the product of its density (ያ), and the standard gravity (g).

As a civil engineer, for problem solving or calculations ,you should always remember the unit weights of different building materials. During an interview, you might be asked about unit weight of any materials and within a second you have to be answerable to be more efficient and representative.In this article, i have mentioned all the building materials with its unit weights in the table below.

S.No.	Building Material	Unit Weight
1	RCC - Reinforced cement  concrete	25 KN/㎥
2	PCC - Plain cement concrete	24 KN/㎥
3	Portland Cement	14 KN/㎥
4	Cement Mortar	20 KN/㎥
5	Dry Sand	16 KN/㎥
6	Water	10 KN/㎥
7	Wet sand	11 KN/㎥ to 20 KN/㎥
8	River Sand	18.4 KN/㎥
9	Bitumen	10.4 KN/㎥
10	Bricks	16 to 19.2 KN/㎥
11	Brick Masonry	19.2 KN/㎥
12	Cement plaster	20 KN/㎥
13	Lime plaster	17 KN/㎥
14	Broken Bricks	14.2 KN/㎥
15	Dry, Loose Earth	12 KN/㎥
16	Dry, Loose Sand	14.4-17 KN/㎥
17	Silt	21 KN/㎥
18	Igneous rock	27 KN/㎥
19	Sedimaentary rock	26 KN/㎥
20	Metamorphic rock	27 KN/㎥
21	Mud	16 KN/㎥
22	Granite	24.5 KN/㎥
23	Marble	26.5 KN/㎥
24	Aggregate	17.5 KN/㎥
25	Lime concrete	19 KN/㎥
26	Clay (Dry)	16 KN/㎥
27	Clay (Damp)	17.6 KN/㎥
28	Gravel	20 KN/㎥
29	Ballast	17.2 KN/㎥
30	Chalk	22.4 KN/㎥
31	Willow Timber	420 Kg/㎥
32	Teak Timber	650 Kg/㎥
33	Sal Timber	10 KN/㎥
34	Clinker	750 Kg/㎥
35	Copper	89 KN/㎥
36	Stainless Steel	74.5 KN/㎥
37	Aluminium	27 KN/㎥
38	Ice	910 Kg/㎥
39	Slag	15 KN/㎥
40	Asbestos Cement Sheet	12 to 15.6 Kg/㎥
41	Glass	24-27.2 KN/㎥
42	Charcoal	530 Kg/㎥
43	Tin	72 KN/㎥
44	Nickel	8.9 KN/㎥

Lets us think out of box , if you know units weights of any other building material ,Then post in a comment section below. I will really appreciate it .

 

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For Testing:

Slump cone test, Silt content, Water absorption, Bulking of sand

Compaction factor test of concrete

Los Angeles Abrasion test on Aggregates