How does a new home owner know what they are going to get? Easy, it's called "due diligence". And however you want to twist it, the fact remains that there are tens of thousands of basements, either block or poured, that are performing perfectly even after 50 years or more. Those are the ones that are done correctly, meaning thickness, reinforcing, parging and dampproofing.

Question: if water can get trapped behind the footing and cause hydrostatic pressure, may I ask how the water got through the footing which now traps it? When you figure that out, let me know. Until then, it's an empty unproven sales tactic and nothing more.

Superiorwall installer -

It is unfortunate that your short 9 years of experience (I have over 40 years in the concrete industry) has given you a false and "warped" idea of how foundation systems work.

There is no way (technical or paractical) the 4" footing projection beyond the foundation wall can cause a hydrostatic pressure on the wall. The concrete footing is a additional structural element that makes poured and block foundations SUPERIOR to the "superior wall" system. - The footing adds tremendous lateral strength in the form of a continuous substantial concrete beam that does not exist with your "inferior wall system". Comparing the hydrostatic pressure between a soil system with or withour an exterior drainage system is not comparing apples with apples. All sytems should have a subsurface drainage system to remove the ground water.

In your second responsed you quickly passed off your lack of understanding of one of the key structural problems with the "inferior wall system". The system you put in is like a series of dominos sitting on uncompacted rock and tied together with bolts. It is very easy for a panelized system to bow in or "warp". The floor it supports supposedly stops the wall from bowing in/warping. When the wall is pushed by the soil, the bolts are stressed. All steel will deform and stretch when loaded. The cummulative stretching of the separate bolts is enough to permit the wall to bow/warp like the many panelized wood foundation wall that have also failed - failure is not just falling down, but is excessive deflection or lack of usability. That is why the some new codes have shown a drastic and dramiatic increase of anchor bolts to where you can have them as closely as 12". The anchor bolts are needed make sure the home floors can support the panel walls and hopefully prevent bowing.

The superior system is just a weaker structural system because of its concept even if it has adequate strength for the indiviual materials.

The strength of the concrete in the superior system is what it is! Poured concrete and concrete block can be made much stronger if necessary, but it is not necessary to be higher since the poured and block structural systems are SUPERIOR. I have seen 8000 psi block and hundreds of 15 to 22 story partially reinforced loadbearing block buildings built using 6" block. In this type of construction, the block are made to the strength required. - Don't get me going on the 20 story building through Poland and Russia that are structurally failing because of the life of the caulk.

Hmmmmm. A 22 storey masonry bearing building... Where is it? Name it.

They build 15 to 22 story 6" block load bearing buildings in many places.

One of the most advanced and sophisticated locations is Brazil. They are built in groups of 3 to 20 buildings. Different strengths of block, excellent engineering and great construction techniques. Partially reinforced/grouted. When asked about the applicable code, the Brazilian engineer said "We build by your code, but we build them better". Anytime you build with a prescriptive system (like Superior Walls), you consistantaly build to a minimum stadard (Code).

Brazil is one of the areas that uses the 6" block as a standard because of the needs and ability to manufacture quality units. The U.S. has the ability to manufacture, but not the need to switch from 8" to 6" as the most common unit. Thicker is not always best if it is not needed.

A good U.S. example of a 28 story 8" loadbearing block building is the 4 buildings comprisine the the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas (seismic conditions).

There are a number of reasons to choose masonry bearing construction. There are also a number of reasons accounting for the rarity of 20+ storey masonry bearing buildings.

My suspicion is that the Excalibur was financed, as are many Las Vegas construction projects, through a trade union pension plan. What are the chances that this one was financed by the bricklayers union????? This could be a compelling reason to build with masonry.

Or, the proximity of Las Vegas to inexpensive sources of raw materials (sand, gravel) may have made the cost analysis tip in the favor of masonry construction. These conditions are not universal throughout the country. If they were, you would see MANY more masonry bearing buildings. (Eskimos don't build igloos because that is the best method of construction. They build igloos because they are up to their asses in snow!)

Masonry bearing is fine for schools and motels, but there are better construction systems for most other applications. We used to see a lot of structural steel buildings with brick veneer on block back-up. Fortunately, the better and more economical system of structural steel with steel stud and sheathing back-up is quickly replacing block - at least here in the Northeast.

As far as the observation by concretemasonry regarding shortcomings of the Superiorwall system, it sounds like the Superior walls are being compared to a block wall FULLY reinforced and FULLY grouted in ALL DIRECTIONS and built under CONTROLLED CONDITIONS by QUALIFIED workers. Otherwise, the comparison does not stand up to scrutiny. Typical masonry block residential construction consists of block with little or no vertical or horizontal reinforcing. A home built in my area recently by Wayne Homes had LIMITED vertical reinforcing, NO horizontal reinforcing, and NO mechanical connection between the wall and footing. (No keyway, NO dowels!) And this is not uncommon in residential foundation construction.

This is an important benefit of Superiorwall. Quality control is done in the fabrication yard and does not rely on "Joe Mason" remembering to load the rebar on the truck - or any of a hundred other possible screw-ups or short-cuts. Try comparing Superiorwall with what the typical masonry contractor is offering for a residential structure, and not to a laboratory built Ivany block wall!!! Precast wins EVERY TIME.

Regarding the Excalibur, I don't belive it is in the interst to finance a building with the menbers money. Although it looks like two builings it is actually 4 buildings (2 pairs with a sophisticated expansion/contraction joint at the intersection near the elevatos).

The building used high quality materials as evidenced by the different strengths (4 or 5 different strngths) of block specified and tested according to ASTM C140. The walls were not fully reinforced and grouted in the interest of reducing the weight of the upper floors (seismic activity) and the job restraints of cranes time availability and and speed. The lower floors were were grouted quite solidly and reinforced heavily at the ends of the walls and around windows. The lower floor was 12" block and the upper floors were 8" block. It is possible to make block up to 8000 psi if there is a need, but often extra width is needed for rebar crammed into some of the cores.

The floor system was a "lift slab" concept where the slabs were case in advance on the ground "sandwich style" (bond beaker between the different stacked slabs) with the top floor cast first and the bottom floor last. At one point in the job, materials (mortar, sand, piping and fixtures) were stocked at night and lifted the first thing in the morning. Time was of the essence and that is why masonry was used.

Regarding the 20 story buildings they relatively rare in the U.S. unless thicker block (8", 10" or 12") are used. They are common is other countries for high rise loadbearing apartments/condos. They also used closely monitored multiple strength block for different floors and superior engineering. Many developments I have seen were 10 to 30 building going up simultaneously. When I asked on of the engineers what code/stadards they used, he said "We use yours, but we use them better and enforce them to take advantage of the economy". Because block may be made (cured in plant), then tested and identified and there is no 28 day reuirement for testing. Mortar strength is not a major factor, but the higher strength mortar was used universally on a project for flexibility and quality control.

Regarding the Superior basement system, my comments relate to the structural difference when you are dealing with a series of panels lined up together without a real strong connection to provide the continuty. Block basements are not fully reinforced/grouted completely and often should not be. Block, poured and ICF walls provide that provides much more rigidty because of the inherent continuity provide by soild corners, connections to a concrete footing and longitudinal continuity. The Superior walls are made using quality materials to make adequate panels, but it is a different structural system. It does meet the codes, but has been pointed at as the cause of somme anchor bolt requiements/ attachement the home above that have been rejected by some states (I think PA was one - see the ICC forum for many discussions) until the codes get modified next time around to recognize the different systems.

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