Masonry's Greatest Strength
Long time South Florida residents who have weathered a severe hurricane often express a heartfelt thankfulness that they were in a concrete masonry structure. Structures built of many lesser products have weathered hurricanes but block homes provide the secure comfort of rock solid construction. This is not just antidotal – its common sense. After reading this article perhaps you will have a better understanding of concrete masonry’s built in strength.

It’s all about the “safety factor”. Simply stated the “safety factor” is the difference between what engineers expect will be the largest wind load a structure will ever be exposed to --- and the wind load that they calculate would rip the structure apart. Structural engineers always like a good safety factor – usually around 3 times or 300%. Poor construction and material deficiencies erode safety factors but if you have sufficient safety factor there is some room for error.

Understanding Wood Frame Connection Problems
Wood frame residential structures have performed poorly in every wind event I have had the opportunity to do wind damage assessment on. The problem is not in the wood itself but in the connectors. A tree branch can be very strong – but if you saw it off you will have a real problem on your hands to nail it back on to its original strength.
The lumber industry is extremely sophisticated in their design procedures. Nails and connections are assigned industry accepted load carrying capacities and safety factors based on extensive testing. All of this is proper engineering. There is, however, a number of factors which explain why Hurricane Irma left dozens of modern wood structures in ruins and zero concrete masonry structures in ruins.

These are:

• Product Weight and Stability
• Natural Safety Factors in Design
• Complexity in Design
• Complexity in Connections

Read More: "Brick, Block & Beers" Volume I, Issue IV (December 2017)
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Seminole State College
Wharton Smith Center for Construction
Heathrow, Florida

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 the MAF provided instruction to the SSSC Wharton Smith Center for Construction. The course was attended by approximately 30 students enrolled in college's construction training program.

The program was arranged by Joe Sorenson, SSC construction Program Instructor and Kevin McCoy of Argos. Don Beers, PE, MAF Staff Engineer provided a 2-hour program covering the topics of Energy Efficiency in Masonry Construction, Masonry vs. Hurricanes & Tornadoes, and Florida's Heart of Stone, a promotional introduction into the history of masonry in the state of Florida.

The Wharton-Smith Center for Construction, part of Seminole State's School of Engineering, Design and Construction, offers programs grounded in academic course work, site visits and practical application of industry principles.

This is part of a larger program introducing concrete and masonry education to the students of Florida Universities.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has completed a study on the effect that various wall systems have on the annual energy usage in one- and two-story residential homes.  
 
The study’s objective was to obtain a direct comparison of the actual energy and dollars expended using different types of walls in a typical residential home while keeping all other aspects of the house EXACTLY the same.  This research was done using EnergyPlus™, a simulation software developed by the Department of Energy and acknowledged as one of the most accurate and powerful energy simulation tools available today.    

The results are groundbreaking in the breadth and scope of the walls compared - 607 different combinations of CMU, wood and ICF.   Almost every conceivable arrangement of standard building products compared “apples to apples” across every climate zone in Florida and the US.   A total of 21,852 separate wall system analyses were made.    Of these, 3,642 wall system analyses were made specifically for Florida.  

For more information: http://bit.ly/1hhc2Ox