The purpose of this research project was to investigate the suitabilty of crushed basalt sand and marine dregged coral as an alternative to lagoon coral sand for plastering and rendering purposes. To achieve this objective, investigations were carried out in three stages. The first stage consisted and comparing the properties of two sands under investigation with lagoon coral sand, the sand usually used in construction industry for plastering and rendering. The second stage was to incorporate the different sands in mortar and to develop optimum mixes for each sand. The final stage was then to investigate the shrinkage properties of the optimum mixes and to stimulate internal plastering and external rendering so as to compare the characteristics of each sand when used in plaster and render.