Masonry Magazine May 1970 Page. 31
Let me tell you about mason contractors
By ROBERT H. HOPKINS
President, National Concrete Masonry Association
Spokane, Washington
The National Concrete Masonry Association, for those of you who do not know or may have forgotten, represents 459 regular members or producers of manufactured concrete masonry products throughout the country. These manufacturers are responsible for just over 75 percent of the total production of concrete masonry units.
In addition to these regular producer-members, there are also 89 associate members, 87 Canadian producer-members, 48 international members representing 12 foreign countries, and 55 informational members. NCMA's staff of 18 people recently moved into new offices in Arlington, Virginia, and our annual association budget is rapidly approaching the $1-million mark.
Now let me tell you about mason contractors. We in the masonry supply or distribution business have a lot of contact with mason contractors. If there is one thing I can say about them, it is that when they give a producer or distributor of masonry products an order for material, they both become partners, whether they like it or not, one with the other. Whatever happens on that job affects both the mason contractor and the supplier alike.
The job each does often determines to what extent the job is successful. If the producer supplies poor material, the mason contractor cannot make the job look good no matter how good a mechanic he may have. If the mason does a sloppy job of laying up the material, it doesn't matter how good a product is provided, the job is going to look bad.
Therefore, we have the mason contractor and the concrete masonry producer each having a vital part to play-not only in establishing and maintaining their individual reputations but in showing the construction industry that masonry construction should have top consideration whenever future projects are planned.
Another thought that is sometimes overlooked is when a mason contractor receives a draw on a partial estimate, a portion of that draw literally belongs to the masonry supplier. Often it amounts to 50 percent or more of the total amount of the draw. If the producer does not show an interest in how well the job is going, and if he doesn't root for the successful completion of the job by the mason contractor, he has forgotten on which side his bread is buttered on. I'm for the mason contractor, and I speak for all NCMA producers. I hope you are 100 percent for us.
Comprehensive tests on masonry wall panels
Let me tell you of some of the programs NCMA has recently undertaken. The National Bureau of Standards has just completed a comprehensive series of tests on concrete masonry wall panels. Shear strength as well as compression testing is involved. The results of these tests, which were carried out with a financial grant from NCMA, will be of tremendous value in establishing improved criteria for future use of concrete masonry units.
We have also made financial grants in varying amounts to such groups as Masonry Research of Los Angeles for their shear test program that is so vital to the masonry industry highrise program in areas subject to earthquakes. There have been a number of other programs in which masonry NCMA has participated with various industry groups through financial or manpower assistance, such as the All-Weather Construction Committee. We believe strongly in such united effort toward a common goal and will continue wherever possible to make finances and manpower available for such purposes.
In our industry there are problems that somehow never seem to get solved and keep coming up year after year, Among these is packaging and uniformity of pallet size. During the past year conferences have been held wherein uniform sizes of pallets were agreed upon. In the future NCMA producers will attempt to comply with these dimensions in the use of pallets.
Satisfactory disposable pallet sought
Pallet deposits and who is going to stand the cost of pallets and the return freight on pallets has been an irritating problem between the mason contractor and the supplier. Some of the contractors object to pallet deposits and the manner of our handling pallet problems. To help solve this, NCMA is looking for a satisfactory disposable pallet. We have experimented with a tight, wrap-around polyethelene package that protects the masonry unit and holds the cube together at the same time. Many producers are banding their products into breakaway cubes for easier handling on the job. But there are still problems to be solved with regard to packaging our product, and we are still working on them.
In the area of residential construction, we are led to believe that apartment dwellings will be the principal means by which the immediate heavy demand for housing will be met. Availability of land, financing policies, and the need for many units in a short period of time point in this direction. NCMA has thus planned a number of seminars on high-rise masonry construction throughout the country, many of which were held last year, stressing the techniques to be used in promoting the use of masonry in apartment construction.
An innovation that has been developed by NCMA over the past two years is the Computer Feasibility Program. With the aid of some simple, basic information supplied by the architect or engineer, this permits the NCMA engineering office to send back, within 24 hours, information from our program computer as to the feasibility of constructing a high-rise building with load-bearing concrete masonry units. This program has been very successful and has had a great influence on decisions to build high-rise structures with the use of load-bearing masonry. Our laboratory during 1970 is scheduled to do further research concerning the following:
* Prism testing.
* Coatings for concrete masonry and the effectiveness of pigmented and clear, waterproof coatings.
* A program to determine the effect of fineness of silica flour on the strength of autoclaved concrete block. It is hoped that this data might be used in developing an ASTM Standard for Silica Flour for use in concrete masonry.
* Sound transmission loss tests.
* Continued research involving pallets and packaging.