File: competing against other materials

MORTARLESS BLOCK SYSTEMS

An analysis of the six systems on the market
By Pieter VanderWerf

oncrete masonry is losing projects to tilt-up, often were so impractical or expensive that they negated the savings from mortarless stacking. precast panels and steel frame at an alarming rate. Although masonry has many strong points, The next generation customers are swayed by advantages they often perceive in these other systems: lower installed As the history of innovation consistently shows, a cost, shorter site time and greater construction presuccessful innovation starts in a market niche. Innovadictability. tive mortarless systems have improved with time Market losses have accelerated in the past few and are now more competitive in many more market years because innovation has significantly improved segments than before. other building systems, unlike block. In many appliEach of the six systems available in the United cations, block now requires more labor hours by States was invented in the last 12 years, and each is more highly skilled (and highly paid) workers. This well suited to one or two applications, where it commeans higher total cost and more site time. The depetes effectively. One or more could be modified to pendence on a small pool of highly skilled labor and suit other applications. All are useful here and now. the extensive use of wet material (mortar) onsite makes block more susceptible to schedule and The big problem weather delays. By far the greatest challenge to the mortarless sysThis problem was suptems has been the inability posed to have been staved off. In the 70s and 80s, of conventional machines companies announced to produce block economimortarless (or dry-stack) cally with less than a 116systems that allegedly inch variation in the eliminated all three probheight dimension. Varialems with one block. The tions of 116-inch are enough ability to use less-skilled lato cause a freestanding, bor, stack faster and elimimortarless, running-bond nate wet material was inwall to deviate from plumb tended to cut cost, site after just three or four time and delays. courses. There is no such However most of the old problem in conventional mortarless systems creatwall systems because the ed more problems than mortar forms a plumb, stathey solved. Mortar serves ble wall by compensating several important functions related to compensatfor height differences from ing for block tolerances, block to block. joint sealing and flexural strength. The mortarless The systems systems tried to accomEach mortarless system plish these same functions solves the problem of unit through special steps in Workers stacking a wall of Durisol block. In select appli- height tolerances differently. manufacturing or installa- cations, all of these systems have produced huge time The Azar Dry-Stack tion, but these extra steps and cost savings. Block system was released

in 1997, initially for the construchits the wall to drain to the base. tion of house foundations, but it alGrout Haener Block have been on the so has been used in firewalls. Each domestic market longer than any The Azar, Faswall and Durisol block interlocks with the next along other mortarless system, thanks block must be fully grouted. As a both the vertical and horizontal rule, this means that all three relargely to the persistence and joints, providing stability during quire more grout than convenadaptability of their inventor, Juan stacking. The interlocks along the tional block about 95% of the time. Haener. head joints are formed by a core In some extremely high-load situThe blocks webs have raised lugs, ations, conventional block repuller added to the production line. formed with a special contoured quire more. Faswall and Durisol The system uses two types of unit: shoe during manufacture. The webs rely on grout for their strength a stretcher and a corner. Unskilled are offset from their conventional because they have a lower comworkers routinely stack 100 block pressive strength than convenlocations so that the lugs align and each per hour. This compares to 20 tional CMU. Sparlock has signifilock each block into correct position per worker per hour for conventional cant bending strength due to its during stacking. Some practiced overlapping joints and probably mortared block (40 per hour for one workers stack more than 100 block has more compressive strength mason and one laborer). After stackper hour. than conventional CMU because ing, crew members must check and The manufacturers instructions of its considerably smaller cells. adjust the wall back to plumb, using leave it to installers to decide how to So, it needs less grout in most aptemporary bracing where necessary. compensate for block-height variaplications. Haener and IMSI block Then they fully grout the wall, locking are grouted selectively with about tions. Some crews use shims, such the same amount of grout as conthe plumbs into place. as brick ties, as necessary. Others ventional block. Even for foundations, the manuhave reported using mortar every facturer specifies no damp-proof fourth course. parging or drainage layers. Water is controlled by an Other than the special shoe and adjustments to integral water-repellent admixture; a water-resistant, cubing, manufacture is conventional. The original minimum-water grout formula; vibration during system includes three block (a stretcher, a corner grouting; and scores molded into the blocks face inand a half). A new two-block system is available, tended to create open channels that help water that which features a combined stretcher/corner and a

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Block and stacking of the Azar system.

Block and stacking of the original Haener system.

half. Haener recently designed the Two-Block Insulating System, which adds space in each block to insert insulation. Haener Block has sold well as a do-it-yourself product in the Los Angeles area; it has achieved success for commercial projects in other locations, but it has no single dominant application. The IMSI system produces an insulated, reinforced wall. It also has provisions for running electrical lines inside the wall. Although its been used for all sorts of structures, its thermal and electrical features have helped it carve out a steady market in above-grade residential walls. The IMSI stretcher has two rows of cavities. The outer row is for insulation and running wires. The inner row is for grouting, insulating and wiring where needed. While stacking, workers shim to maintain level, make cuts for electrical boxes, and place insulation inserts, wiring and rebar as necessary. Because mortarless stacking saves time, a typical crew can do all this about as fast as it could erect a conventional mortared block wall without insulation and wiring. After stacking, workers trowel surface-bonding cement onto exterior and interior surfaces. This forms a stucco-like primary finish, seals the walls and adds bending strength.

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Block and stacking of Sparlock system.

Expanded view of a wall of IMSI block, grouted and reinforced, with foam inserts, and surface bonded.

The Sparlock system avoids the height problem altogether by placing block in a stack bond, where each block rests exactly on the block below instead of overlapping two units. So, if the block below are of different heights it does not affect the walls plumbs or stability. Sparlock units interlock like puzzle pieces. Workers slide them down into place. Using half-high units for the first course on one side of the wall (see illustration) results in staggered bed joints. This arrangement adds vertical bending strength to the wall system and retards fire and sound from passing through: The resulting wall has 2- to 4-hour fire ratings and STC of 52. After a few jobs, crews stack at a rate equivalent to nearly 40 conventionally sized block per worker per hour. No further structural work is necessary after stacking for a low- or moderate-load wall. If the block will be walled over, as for a firewall, no finish work is needed either. To date, the manufacturer has focused on the firewall market. This system has enough strength and fire resistance without grout to be an interior nonloadbearing fire partition wall. There are no special provisions for reinforcement in either direction although it is possible to place vertical bars using a very high slump grout. The block are produced in special molds on standard block equipment. Their unusual shape requires some extra thought in cubing, but otherwise, no special steps are necessary. Durisol block are made from a mixture of cement and mineralized-wood fiber, which create a material

is sized to match a conventional full-dimension block in that is almost as durable as conventional concrete. height and length (1112x8x16 inches). This product is They are easily cut with common wood saws and produced on conventional block machinery and came readily nailed with ordinary wood nails. The insulaon the market in January 1998. tion value is about R 1.75 per inch. The block are stacked with an occasional shim to The future maintain level. They can be assembled quickly beEach system currently has a modest but sustaincause theyre easy to cut and relatively light. An able market share. Their inventors are working ag8x12x36-inch block weighs about 31 pounds. gressively to expand usage and add new versions that will take their products into new markets. Crews reinforce as necessary and always grout the wall solid. Each block has reduced webs (like a Many industry insiders point to the low number of bond beam unit) to permit grout to flow horizontaldry-stacking block sold to argue that these systems ly and form a bond beam will never take over the on each course. The grout mainstream. They may be serves as the walls strucright. But they may also be ture as the Durisol conmissing some important crete has lower comprespoints. These products can sive strength than benefit many projects here conventional concrete. and now. And if they apMineral-wool inserts are pear to have limited potenavailable to raise the fintial, they are in good comished walls R-value to a pany. In the late 50s, maximum of 21 for the marketing experts at 3M thickest unit. This is an estimated value for a 12-inch predicted that Scotch Tape block with a 312-inch insert. would have total sales of Durisols flexibility and $1 million per year. In 1960, R-values make it attractive the press reported that the for above-grade walls. To worldwide demand for date it has been used computers would be about mostly for houses and 100 machines. When the high-rise apartments but Internet was established in also for commercial conthe 70s it was supposed to struction. have no more than a few Faswall, like Durisol, is thousand users. made from a composite of So at least one of these cement and mineralized systems could surprise us. wood fiber that provides But if there truly is no sucsome insulation and is easicessful, improved version ly cut, and the block is deof the structural concrete signed to be reinforced and grouted to form a solid, block on the horizon, heavCutaway view of a wall of Faswall block, grouted and restructural wall. But the unit inforced. en help the industry.