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CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

June 11, 2013

A Brick Urban Legend
Filed under: Masonry — Tags: — nedpelger

Came across this photo (thanks Kneal) and thought, “Wow, that guy was good!”

Then I considered the pile of bricks we clean up after the masonry work is done. Could he really have designed the building so not one brick had to be cut? Wasn’t there any bricks made wrong? None got taken home for a patio project?

At 55, I’m finally getting just a wee bit skeptical. TBW would say that it’s long overdue. She wonders how long my Pollyanna world view can continue.

Oh what the heck, maybe that architect really did get it just right. It’s worth believing just to continue to annoy TBW.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

June 25, 2012

Trade Beauty
Filed under: Masonry — Tags: — nedpelger

I moderated a comment on the Construction Knowledge Forum about masonry techniques from the early 1900s and came across the video below. Seemed like an instructional video for laying block, but I clicked on it out of curiosity. Just watch a minute or two.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VGjA66RSm0&feature=player_embedded#!

Isn’t that mason incredible? His fluid motion and strength (yes those are 12″ normal weight concrete blocks) mesmerizes. I’d like to shake his hand, but he’d probably crush mine.

It makes me happy to see someone do a job so well. We work in a great industry that allows so much varied expertise. As technology moves the world to sameness, the construction trades remain a bastion of skill and competence.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

February 4, 2011

Keep Your Mind on Your Work
Filed under: Masonry — Tags: — nedpelger

For some Friday fun, the video below show the trials of an excited bricklayer. It really does pay to keep your mind on your work.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV3vlNJdv8M&feature=related

Hope you have a great weekend. Enjoy the Super Bowl commercials. Pay attention to what they say and how they are saying it. Strive to understand trends and think about how you could use them to your benefit.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

April 15, 2009

An Amazing Masonry Resource…for Free
Filed under: Masonry — Tags: — nedpelger

I still get surprised when I see companies lie in their advertising. We are building a 12 unit condo project in Lititz called PilgerHaus and need to construct an exterior elevator shaft. After purchasing the elevator, I saw that hydraulic elevators want to be between 60 to 90 degrees F. I hadn’t thought about insulating the 8″ block wall, but decided we could foam the cores. I knew I’d seen some good R values from that system. I found a manufacturer’s data sheet that showed R values of 14 and 9 for various density 8″ concrete blocks.

I talked to my old buddy and masonry expert Harold Haldeman of New Holland Concrete to determine which density block we use. He informed me that nobody makes a block with the aggregate light enough to achieve R 14. Maybe the foam manufacturer was confused, thinking they were using some block available only in heaven.

Harold also showed me the National Concrete Masonry Institute TEK Manual website that his company helps support. That website provides all the most current masonry technical reports for free. These are useful and practical reports, full of information that comes in handy for anyone working around masonry. I had purchased a set of these reports 10 years ago for over $100, but hadn’t recently updated. I was thrilled to find all these updated reports for free online.

When I looked at the Energy section, under R values, I found that normal weight concrete block (about 130 lb/cf) have an R value of 4 and lightweight concrete block (under 105 lb/cf) have an R value of 5.6. Since we need the normal weight block for the strength, I realized that foaming wasn’t going to be a good option, we need to wrap the shaft in rigid insulation, than put our finish material over the insulation. It’s great to be able to find a value like that so easily and for free.

Definitely check out the NCMA TEK website and bookmark it. You will want to consult it with other masonry problems as well. I know I often use it to find quick masonry retaining wall designs, fire ratings or noise control designs.