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Structural

Masonry walls explained

Masonry or blockwork is a very common way of creating structural and retaining walls. The New Zealand Concrete Masonry Manual describes it best: Blockwork masonry units are hollow and are filled with concrete and allow for the integration of reinforcing steel, a feature essential for earthquake resistant design' (Page 1, 2011, (7)).

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At this point, we do want to make it clear that we do out of environmental reasons have a bias against concrete masonry walls at present. The University of Bath in the UK established a list that shows the CO2 emissions of building products and concrete/cement does not do well at present. While concrete sometimes appears unavoidable, we believe the use of masonry does not belong in that category as of 2019. A copy of the report is available below...

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Advantages of Concrete Masonry walls:

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  • Low maintenance and high life expectancy

  • Good thermal mass, storing heat gained during the day and releasing it later

  • High resistance to fire

 

Disadvantages of Concrete Masonry walls:

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  • High release of CO2 during its manufacture

  • High cost to break down and potential landfill of non-biodegradable material

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Sources:

(7) New Zealand Concrete Masonry, New Zealand Concrete Masonry Manual, Page 1, 2011

(8) University of Bath, 'Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) Version 2.0, Authors: Proff. Geoff Hammond and Craig Jones, January 2011

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