Concrete and Masonry

  • Superior Walls

    This video illustrates how Superior Walls are manufactured under roof, transported to the jobsite by trucks and installed on-site, usually in less than one day!

     
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    APEX Polystyrene and Cement Block

    At the Apex. Simply put, the manufacturer claims that the APEX Block is the most energy-efficient construction material on the planet. That's up for debate, but the product--made from recycled polystyrene and cement--is pretty cool. An average home built with the block keeps 2,830 pounds of...

     
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    Pour It On: Special How-To Feature

    WHEN TEMPERATURES dip toward freezing, building officials routinely shut down foundation work

     
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    Time To Tilt-Up

    IN COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION, THE USE OF SITE-POURED, TILT-UP concrete walls is growing at record speed. But residential builders, for the most part, haven't joined the tilt-up revolution. It's still primarily a commercial construction tool.

     
  • Journal Entry: March, 1989

     
  • Lightweight Concrete vs. Wood Framing

    A recent cradle-to-grave study from the Portland Cement Association (PCA) compares the long-term environmental impact of lightweight concrete houses with conventional, 2x4 wood-framed houses, and finds a close race.Their results found that 99 percent of all life-cycle energy usage over that time...

     
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    Better Building With Block

    At the recent meeting of the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) in Baltimore, the guys (and they're pretty much all guys) who make concrete blocks voiced their frustration about selling their time-honored system to home builders. "It's not fair to compare a stick-framed building to...