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Billy NY 01-09-2013 07:28:37 72.226.79.200 Report to Moderator

I did not even cover backfilling, temp bracing and so on, but Ray did, and thats another reason to consider a reinforced, fully grouted CMU wall. I'd not go near a CMU wall with any fill unless the last courses installed were 28 days old, besides the bracing, and whatever else is needed to stiffen, brace and shore. You can easily blow out a CMU wall, even by filling too many courses with grout at one time, many good reasons to go for the added expense and labor to reinforce, that Hohmann-Barnard site will show you all kinds of accessories including many reinforcing materials. The thing about masonry is that its modular, you can take your time, get everything laid out, square and all that, have vertical rebar in the footings, use the ladder mesh every course, fully grout each course, though by the time you do all that, its likely your walls will be similar in strength to concrete and a lot stronger than straight up hollow block, might pan out to just do concrete, which I know has become expensive, and you have to pay up front, vs doing masonry, where you can buy what you can afford and install at your leisure. I'd emphasize layout too, it has to be square and the walls plumb, I prefer a wet saw over hand chopped cuts, but thats a preference, and of course the top of wall elevation has to be level and the same, just more to be aware of so you build off a level/square/plumb foundation. [Reply]   [No Email]