Masonry Magazine April 1963 Page. 10
HI-BOND MORTAR REPORT
Two reports on the current use of high bond mortar in varied building types and with different construction systems. MCAA will conduct a Hi-Bond Mortar School in conjunction with its Summer Executive Board Meeting at the Abbey, Fontana, Wis., July 31.
Denver Building Features
Pre-constructed Panels
Brick panels, pre-constructed at ground level, were lifted seven stories high at the Denver, Colorado, United Fund building to become load-bearing walls.
Made possible through the use of a high bond mortar containing new Sarabond liquid, developed by The Dow Chemical Company and the Structural Clay Products Research Foundation, Geneva, Illinois, the new technique will allow contractors greater flexibility in building projects and help to eliminate weather considerations in brick construction. Sarabond liquid is not yet commercially available, but is in final field evaluation stages.
Masonry work on this unique project was done by Stephen Dach, MCAA Denver Chapter Member.
Featured in the new concept were brick panels, four inches thick, four feet wide, ranging from five to fourteen feet in height. These panels were constructed in an upright position at a Denver brick plant in mid-October, and after curing, they were held in readiness for the new building. In early December, the preconstructed panels, in steel frames for ease of handling and in place connection, were trucked to the building site and hoisted by crane to the eighth floor of the new United Fund building. After positioning, the panels were then welded together to form the load-bearing walls of an equipment penthouse.
The 57 panels which made up the penthouse walls were installed in three days by two bricklayers and a bricklayer-welder. As the panels were already cured and completely finished, roofing crews followed immediately behind the installation team welding metal decking and the panels to form the roof.
All specifications for strength, lightweight, permanent, low maintenance and weatherability were met by the pre-constructed panels. In addition, after the seams between the panels were caulked, the penthouse walls blend perfectly with conventionally built walls in other sections of the building.
The high bond mortar proved similar to conventional mortar in all respects save for its great increase in strength. The new mortar, rated as having four times the strength of ordinary mortar, enabled joints to be made that were strong as most bricks produced in the United States.
Bricklayers on the project found they could lay approximately as many bricks with the new high strength mortar as with ordinary mortar after a few hours of familiarization.
The high bond mortar was also used in the four-thick, load-bearing brick walls of the building's eighth floor mechanical penthouse. These walls were laid conventionally. Because of the great strength of the new high bond mortar, it was possible to carry the four inch walls to a height of nine feet and complete the project in less time. (Continued on page 14)
Pre-constructed panels for the new United Fund building's eighth floor penthouse were built several weeks before the installation. Built in an up-right position, they presented no special problems to the bricklayers.
The 57 panels which made up the eighth floor penthouse walls were put into place by two bricklayers and a bricklayer-welder in three days. Roofing crews followed immediately behind the installation team with metal decking to form the roof.
After positioning, the 3,600-pound panels were welded together to form the penthouse walls by a bricklayer-welder. This new technique in brick construction was made possible by high band mortar containing Saraband liquid.
MASONRY
April,