Sulfate attack is rarely a problem with masonry, especially on the clay brick side. Most of the deterioration occurs in the mortar and if it does happen in the brick it takes decades for issues of salt crystallization to cause problems. Concrete masonry could be more susceptible, but I rarely...
Yeah, ditch the precast and do a true loadbearing arch. Pham provided one of the BIA Tech Notes, but here is one that is a little newer (on arches in general): https://www.gobrick.com/media/file/31-brick-masonry-arches.pdf. and for those that can't get enough of masonry arch design...
I don't know of any requirements in TMS 402 (ACI 530) regarding this, but it is often good practice to have the thicker wall below be grouted at least at the top course. This gives more bearing area for the thinner wall since you would only have thin webs supporting the wall (potentially). If...
Also look at the problems in the UK with unsafe metal cladding on their buildings. The Grenfell fire of 2017 caused many building owners to reclad their buildings and putting most of the costs on renters and owners. Most can't afford the millions of dollars it will take to fix the problem. Check...
The industry is moving away from truss type reinforcement since it may interfere with vertical rebar. Ladder type joint reinforcement provides the same strength as truss type - its the side wires which do all the work, not the cross wires. So unless you have a special condition use ladder type...
If there is a real need to grout the block solid, then by all means, but you are increasing the cost by doing so. There was a project in Eau Claire WI where they bid a job with fully grouted CMU foundation walls vs partially grouted walls and there was about a 15% savings. If you reinforce the...
You can use the TMS 402/602 for non-composite walls in Chapter 5 as a guide, but since the ties are already in place, it might be a moot point. And it sounds like it is working out for you.
The newest edition of TMS 402/602-2022 covers "lightly loaded" veneer. For any 5' x 5' area, the load should not exceed 20 lbs or 180 in.-lb moment. If it does then you should anchor into the backing. And you definitely need to consider expansion of the conduit since it will be much greater than...
Lex, typically there aren't any code requirements for movement joints since there are multiple ways to handle movement in a masonry wall (the code just says you must address and design for movement). The code isn't prescriptive so as to allow designers more freedom to design movement joints...
Hey everyone, let's try not to overdesign masonry here. Find out what the bond beam is supposed to do and design for that. As many have stated it may come down to providing movement (shrinkage) control of the CMU. If that is the case then design according to NCMA (now CMHA) recommendations for...
AAC block are cored (circular cores) that can be reinforced. Check with the manufacturer to check their coring pattern. Here is some general information on AAC...
The damage to this building reminds me of 90 West St in NYC that was damaged during 9/11 (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/lpc/downloads/pdf/presentation-materials/20220517/90-West-Street.pdf, see page 6). Even though there was major damage they were able to restore it to new life...
Corbelling may be allowed, but the unit that is corbelled should be a solid unit or grouted solid. See NCMA TEK 14-08 for empirically designed walls: https://www.masonryandhardscapes.org/resource/tek-14-08b/. Many of the provisions for type of support or shear friction assume the wall is fully...
You could use the same process as a CMU wall, but a structural clay tile wall will not have any reinforcing it in. Go to the Building Technology Heritage Library and find this book: https://archive.org/details/BrickAndTileEngineering for more info on tile design.
Talk with a qualified local mason contractor. If you are using masonry grout (which is very fluid) it could end up filling all the block cells in the wall.
There are two properties here that shouldn't be interchanged - bond strength and extent of bond. A third type of strength - compressive strength - shouldn't be brought into the discussion because it doesn't necessarily correlate with the important properties of a wall assemblage. Bond strength...
The Masonry Society (US) has created a new standards activity on "unfired clay block": https://masonrysociety.org/committees/technical/modular-unfired-clay-standards-committee/. If you are interested you should join to develop standards for these products.
I'm probably too late to this discussion, but where is the recommendation to use a masonry lintel (beam) in place of steel. Just reading the discussion above makes me think that a masonry lintel would avoid all of the detailing issues above. CMU comes in 16" thick versions (sometimes called...
I guess I don't see why you would design to a lower strength except to lower the cement content (i.e. lower embodied carbon). Flexural bond strength is actually higher with a Type S mortar (especially PCL mortars) than Type N and both Types N and S can provide for good water penetration...
