I have a project that a client is asking me to prepare a proposal for. The building is a single-story building in an area with a wind speed of 131 mph. The building is anticipated to have an eave height of 20'-0" with dimensions of 146'x68' and utilize open-web steel joists and masonry bearing walls. The project is pretty straight forward with the exception that the client is looking to use 8" CMU.
Our company standards have us moving away from 8" CMU around 16'-0" to 18'-0". There is no real reason for our limit other than this is what has historically worked for us (other than the old h/t limit of 30 outlined in ACI 530 which limits 8" CMU to 20'-0" before you have to take a 75% reduction in axial capacity for the bearing wall). For this project we are trying to figure out a way to get the clients system to work before we put in a proposal. We are considering using the depth of the roof joists system (24" deep roof joists) and support the walls off the bottom chord of the joist. This would require a system of kickers and bridging in order to properly transfer this force up o the roof diaphragm. It's an unorthodox solution for us. Has anyone attempted to brace masonry walls in this manner before?
To me, as long as we can transfer the loads to the diaphragm properly, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Would it be cheaper than switching to 12" CMU.... unfortunately that is above my head.
Our company standards have us moving away from 8" CMU around 16'-0" to 18'-0". There is no real reason for our limit other than this is what has historically worked for us (other than the old h/t limit of 30 outlined in ACI 530 which limits 8" CMU to 20'-0" before you have to take a 75% reduction in axial capacity for the bearing wall). For this project we are trying to figure out a way to get the clients system to work before we put in a proposal. We are considering using the depth of the roof joists system (24" deep roof joists) and support the walls off the bottom chord of the joist. This would require a system of kickers and bridging in order to properly transfer this force up o the roof diaphragm. It's an unorthodox solution for us. Has anyone attempted to brace masonry walls in this manner before?
To me, as long as we can transfer the loads to the diaphragm properly, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Would it be cheaper than switching to 12" CMU.... unfortunately that is above my head.
