Wood walls and CMU walls in same building 1

[EngineerofSteel]

I have an architect friend who sends me projects.

He drew a commercial building, 2-story, 115'x22'8".

The north and east walls are uninterrupted CMU. The south and west walls are light-frame shear walls- with many windows.

I don't like the design.

Here are my concerns. Please comment- I would like to have input on efficient design for this project and on non-typical checks I should perform.

* The wood will deflect more than the CMU. How will this affect: torsion; wood:CMU connections; load distribution to walls (I expect more load will transfer to more rigid CMU walls than to wood walls.)
* If I design a rigid connection at the CMU side, and a simple support at the wood side, what concerns will I have?

I have designed all CMU and CMU+steel and all-wood, but not wood +CMU on the same story.

Thanks---

 

[msucog]

i've seen quite a few built and never saw any issues...until recently. we're not sure what's going on but the cmu is experiencing small cracks over the doorways and at transitions. we are certain it's not a footing problem and masonry is reinforced with bond beams and lintels. after the cracks showed up at the newest one built, i drove by another/older building (same design) and it also has similar cracks (just not quite as large). the cracks look like shrinkage cracks in nature. we're thinking it's the wood joists shrinking during the winter time indoor heating since there was no movement of cracks from spring until late fall. i'd certainly like to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience and found the culprit.