Concrete Masonry Units are an excellent building material for commercial and industrial building. It’s flexibility and ease of installation attributes provide a cost-effective, durable and attractive end result. There is flexibility in regards to the design and construction. Often no skilled labor or heavy machinery is required allowing for reduction of labor and equipment. It’s strength and durable composition along with its green building advantages make CMU a strong building alternative to other building options.
Safe Rooms Safe Rooms will help protect you and your family from injury or death due to the dangerous forces of high winds and tornadoes. Emergency response personnel and others cleaning up after severe storms and tornadoes often have found an interior room of a severely damaged home still standing when most of the house has been destroyed.
Video Cast on Safe Rooms Produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and released with permission.
The Wind Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have developed specifications for a Safe Room designed to withstand high winds of tornadoes. This Safe Room will withstand sustained winds up to 250 miles per hour and resist penetration by a 15-pound 2x4 stud traveling 100 miles per hour, according to Federal Coordinating Officer Carlos Mitchell.
1) LEED credits can be earned for using materials extracted, harvested or recovered within a 500
mile (800 km) radius from the site which are most common for concrete masonry constituent
materials and units.
2) Recycled crushed aggregate eases the pressure on already overburdened landfill sites. Using
recycled aggregate in concrete masonry units can contribute to LEED credits MR 4.1 and 4.2 –
Recycled Content.
3) Optimize Energy Performance – LEED Credit EA 1, when designing with CMU walls, architects
can often downsize the HVAC system saving more in heating and cooling costs due to the thermal
mass concrete masonry wall provide.
4) Minimizing the impact of excavation is a must for site preservation and building green practices.
Minimizing damage to the surrounding environment could include adding CMU to existing solid
rock versus digging out the area.
5) Consider concrete hardscapes for your exterior design including pavers and retaining walls.
Hardscapes are an excellent low maintenance alternative to harmful chemical paints.
6) CMU construction is a healthier alternative to other building products due to the reduction of major sources of indoor allergies, mold and fungus. There is also a reduction of dust as well as VOC output.
