Structural CMU and retaining walls
Load bearing block, foundation walls and site retaining structures for commercial and institutional buildings.
Structural masonry is inspected work. The engineer specifies an f’m, a special inspector watches the grout and the reinforcing, and the testing lab reports go in the closeout binder. A subcontractor who treats that paperwork as an afterthought will cost you time you did not budget for.
What we build
Load bearing CMU walls and columns
Reinforced and grouted block, partial or full
Foundation and stem walls
Shaft, stair and elevator enclosures
Fire rated partitions
Site retaining walls, including reinforced masonry
Bond beams, lintels and embeds
Sound rated assemblies where specified
Blast and impact rated assemblies where the drawings call for them
Control joint layout coordinated with the finishes
f’m, prisms and the submittal package
The specified compressive strength of the assembly can be proven two ways. The unit strength method relies on certifications for the block and the mortar. A prism test means building and breaking specimens. They do not cost the same and they do not take the same amount of time. We tell you at bid which one the specification requires and what it carries, so the method is settled before the first inspection rather than argued over in a submittal review.
The same goes for the rest of it: mock up panels, grout and mortar mix designs, reinforcing shop drawings, and getting on the special inspector’s calendar before the wall is ready rather than after.
Block goes up first, so coordination pays
Everything hangs off the block. Embeds for steel, sleeves and blockouts for mechanical and electrical, control joint layout the finishes have to live with. We want that coordination conversation before we start, because a missed sleeve in a grouted wall is a core drill and a change order instead of a five minute decision.
Where this work goes
Schools and school additions, a university biosafety lab, wastewater treatment plants, fire training facilities, police and fire stations, bank branches, retail and industrial support buildings. Institutional and public work carries inspection regimes and closeout requirements that private work often does not, and pricing that in from the start is the difference between a clean job and a fight at substantial completion.
Common questions
Unit strength method or prism test?
Whichever the specification requires, and we will tell you which one that is at bid rather than after award. Unit strength relies on block and mortar certifications and is faster. Prism testing means casting and breaking specimens on a schedule, which carries both cost and lead time. The two are not interchangeable and the difference belongs in the number.
Do you coordinate the special inspector?
Yes, and we get on their calendar before the wall is ready. Grout and reinforcing are inspected in place, which means an inspector who cannot come until Thursday stops the wall on Tuesday. That is a scheduling problem, not a masonry problem, and it is avoidable.
Can retaining walls and building work sit on one contract?
Yes, and it usually should. Site retaining structures are often let separately and then sequenced badly against the building. Under one contract the crew, the block order and the grout schedule are the same.
How do you handle hot and wet weather?
Both are real here. Hot weather masonry needs the mortar protected and retempered on a controlled schedule; wet weather needs the tops of walls covered so the grout is not diluted and the units are not saturated before laying. The relevant provisions are in TMS 602 and we build to them rather than around them.
When do you need the embed and sleeve information?
Before we start the wall. Embeds for structural steel and penetrations for mechanical and electrical are cheap while the wall is being laid and expensive afterwards. If the coordination drawings are not ready, tell us, and we will sequence around the areas that are.
Do you build the mock up?
When the specification calls for one, yes, and we leave it standing as the reference the work is measured against.