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Resilient Design & Masonry

22K views 183 replies 15 participants last post by  Kris Johnson 
#1 ·
A somewhat recent buzz word in the design / architectural arena is the term resilient design. The gist of it is to design / build buildings for the long haul,centuries if not longer. These buildings should be capable of withstanding natural and anthroprogenic (man made disasters,like terrorism). That said,obviously masonry has a real good chance to play a big role in that arena.


Was giving this topic considerable thought for some time.Re-enforced masonry appears to hold much promise to "assist" buildings to withstand high wind loading and seismic events. Having examined the pitfalls of rusting of steel embedded in concrete and masonry,(yes even epoxy and galvanized steel along with stainless) . I started to examine the possibilities of plastic re-bar for such applications. For what I read,the tensile strength is more than steel size for size.


Does anyone have any experience with plastic re bar ?
 
#163 ·
Small TG; Regarding the mindset and willingness of customers to pop for "green products or energy upgrades" I will say this,they are like ice cream cones,they come in a gazillion flavors. Even those that talk a good game from the get go,about wanting durability,energy performance or green usually balk when they find out what the costs are. They then shove their hands so deep in their pockets,one would think they are trying to scratch their toes.:laughing:
 
#164 ·
R value
U Value

Thermal Density/Heat Density/Specific Gravity

Energy Density: Well that's a curious thing. Aluminum and brick have very similar Specific Gravities - Aluminum has 50% higher Energy Density.

Cast Iron has nearly half the specific heat of brick, but twice the energy density.

Brick, concrete and Fireclay are close in specific gravity, but Fireclay has a much higher Energy Density.

This is why I state that no theoretical modeling so far will yield real world predictors for a building. No Green energy chart will give honest results - just arbitrarily assigned values for specific components.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/sensible-heat-storage-d_1217.html
 
#165 ·
It's a tough nut. Kind of off topic but i read a book once called "the green home" about a house that the NRC (national research council) funded as an eperiment to have some real world numbers. Soemthing like that anyway. The part that got my goat the most was that one of the fellows didn;t want to add to the landfill so whenever there was paint left over he just kept painting on more until the paint was gone...really, it was gone? or was it just on a wall now to become the exact same landfill 100 years from now, maybe more maybe less doesn;t matter, it's still latex, it still exists and there is still a need for more latex. One of the things I LOVE about brick and lime mortars is the re-useability.

I use reclaimed brick a lot, there;s some old buildings that are getting turned into condos, i take the wall apart and put it back together in a different way...I have a weeks worth of work into it and under $100 worth of materials and all of that is sand and lime. These buildings are 120 years old and will likely be lived in as condos now for another 50 before being turned into offices or maybe become a robot incubator...who knows. And I do this a lot. Same with the stone mills. turn a window into a door, and a door into a window, put an archway through a wall and put the stone in the basement or the garden for a different use another day. Low cost (except labour...great I make most of my money on labour) low embodied energy and a whole new use and design...VERY resilient
 
#167 ·
It's a tough nut. Kind of off topic but i read a book once called "the green home" about a house that the NRC (national research council) funded as an eperiment to have some real world numbers. Soemthing like that anyway. The part that got my goat the most was that one of the fellows didn;t want to add to the landfill so whenever there was paint left over he just kept painting on more until the paint was gone...really, it was gone? or was it just on a wall now to become the exact same landfill 100 years from now, maybe more maybe less doesn;t matter, it's still latex, it still exists and there is still a need for more latex. One of the things I LOVE about brick and lime mortars is the re-useability.
thanks Dom. I get some flack from "greenies" for making clay brick. they think i should be making CSEB bricks. My bricks should be around practically forever, unless the builder built with wrong mortar.
 
#171 ·
This is from Clay Chapmans youtube channel. I'm still watching but in the first 5 minutes the bald headed guy hits all the notes I've been trying to express...frugal, adaptable, and loveable. Frugal and adaptable...amny buildings have that quality...it;s the loveable quality that in my opinion keeps them from being torn down. (I guess it's all 3 but the loveable/architecturally interesting (I'm not much for fuzzy cuddly) part is what is missing in most newer constructions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j1dSqBuTBk
 
#172 ·
The guy you mentioned is Steve Mouzon. He is the architect / author I mentioned several times regarding two of his books. His two books Traditional Construction Patterns and 1001 Construction Details are excellent books as far as I'M concerned. His 3 RD. book The Original Green,not so much. But hey,2 out of 3 is pretty good.
 
#176 ·
A few days back,I read this article regarding Japan and their research into nanofibers. Supposedly,it is 5 times stronger than steel.At this point in time,the costs are out of sight,however,if they get a handle on that aspect,it may be the product of the future. It could overcome all the shortcomings of steel re-bar,particularly in masonry.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...bd-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205-20150929-story.html
 
#177 ·
The Nicole Curtis project redoing the exterior of the Ransom Gillis house here in Detroit is wrapping up, and Mlive.com featured a photo update.

http://www.mlive.com/business/detro...cole_curtis_and_team_h.html#incart_river_home

Haven't been by there, but was disappointed to see OSB used for sheathing the porch roof structure. Eh, whatya gonna do? Still, its impressive how a structure that has been virtually abandoned for a century can be brought back.
 

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#178 ·
In the USA a buildings long term survival is more dependent on our crazy real estate tax code and the Income tax law regarding depreciation.

Until the tax codes are simplified to stop punishing owners of older buildings, the rational will continue to migrate to newer, cheaper to own/rent/lease units.

Masonry is further punished by outlasting any tax code statutes short sighted time frames.
 
#179 ·
Actually it's the opposite of what you say around here...If you build new the assessors are pinning the assessment at full value as opposed to the many years of standard 1/3rd to 1/2 the value.

Not speaking commercial, that's even worse...if you build a new house in my local town, each 100k of assessed value translates to 5K+ in taxes...and you'd be lucky to get 2000 sqft for 300K, yes 15k in taxes.

People say Jersey is high, you outta come across the bridge to PA! :blink:

One of my clients built a new home, of rather large proportion in one of our ritzier zips...he's paying 230K a year to the taxman.
 
#182 ·
Superseal @ 179: property taxes are 100 % deductible on commercial/business property and of course building depreciation can taken---why work in an old building when your neighbors are giving back tax $ to you to pay for a New unit? Or why build anything to last when the Tax code doesn't reward that behavior?

The US real estate market has been socially engineered for generations.
 
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