Concrete bock wall thickness

[Alaska]

I am building a 30 x 60 ft. building on sloped ground and I want it within the general building code guidelines and to be of good construction. I have a good footing and the 60' wall will be 6' above ground on one end and 3' at the other end. The remainder of the walls will not be as high. The opposite corner to the 6' high wall will be on grade at the ground.

I plan to pour a reinforced vertical column in the blocks every 4' and to have a reinforced bond beam on the top course. The inside of the walls will be filled with clean pea gravel from the quarry (crushed limestone rock) and the entire area will be covered with a 4" reinforced concrete slab.

My question is what size block do I need to use for the walls. Standard concrete blocks are 8" high and 16" long with various widths of 6", 8" or 12". I have used 8" in the past but this may not be adequate on a 60' length even though the limestone is quite light weight rock with no dirt in it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Trussdoc]

The height of the unbalanced load and the height of the wall are the important factors behind selecting block thickness.

 

[boo1]

The 8 inch block is acceptable for your height, but reinforce vertically with #4 bars and grout at 24" o.c. Bars locating should not be less than 4 1/2" from pressure side of wall. The bars must be tied into the footer. I would consider adding a 16"x16" pier at center wall span.

Consider why you are filling with rock. A raised wood platform with insulation may be cheaper.

I hope you find this usefull! Cheers

 

[boo1]

Check common building practices in you area. Seismic stability should be checked too.

 

[Alaska]

Thanks for the input boo1!

I posted another question about booster pumps and I'm having a tough time getting an answer ... have a look if you will. What I really want to know is if the booster pump will make 50 Psi by itself and if I put it in parallel with the existing water line that has 20 Psi by itself will I then have 70 Psi down the line. In other words, does the pressure add or is volume the only consideration?

Pump engineering forum407

Thanks .....!

 

[boo1]

Replied to Pump forum