Lightweight CMU

It’s one thing to read a pile of technical white papers about the performance, superior fire resistance, aesthetic properties, quality, and productivity improvements possible with lightweight concrete masonry units (CMUs) or concrete block. It’s quite another to hear it straight from the people who are out in the field installing the product.

Students and staff at the new Clinch County K-12 School in Homerville, Georgia, may never notice the concrete block in the walls of their new school. Yet these blocks—specifically the lightweight units made with Arcosa’s lightweight aggregate—play a quiet but crucial role across all three campus buildings: ensuring structural integrity, optimizing thermal performance, and, most importantly, enhancing fire resistance.

As Guntersville, Alabama prepares to open its first new high school since 1969, Arcosa Lightweight and its customer, Kirkpatrick Concrete, North Division, are playing a key role in ensuring the new facility is built to last and, most importantly, to protect students and staff.

Situated in an area prone to severe weather, the decision to use lightweight concrete masonry units (CMUs) was crucial for enhancing safety, durability, and sustainability.

When the city of Fort Payne, Alabama embarked on an initiative to bolster its educational facilities, they chose concrete masonry for a new $19 million elementary school. The 100,000-square-foot building is constructed using lightweight, grey concrete masonry units (CMUs) produced by Kirkpatrick Concrete’s Guntersville, Alabama block division.

An Alabama battery facility, part of Mercedes-Benz’s global electric vehicle battery network, relies on lightweight concrete masonry units to ensure fire safety and structural efficiency. During its 2018 construction, Arcosa Lightweight partnered with Tupelo Concrete Products to develop 10-inch CMUs specifically designed to meet the project’s unique 3-hour fire-rating requirements. The automotive support building was designed with CMU fire separation walls reaching 44 feet high.

Ten years after its completion, Watertown High School continues to serve the fast-growing community of Watertown, Tennessee, as a 208,000 square-foot educational facility. Constructed using approximately 450,000 lightweight concrete masonry units (CMUs) produced by Southland Brick and Block of Murfreesboro, the school was designed by KBJM Architects of Mount Juliet and built by RGAnderson Company of Nashville.

Over one million lightweight concrete masonry units were used in the construction of a behavioral healthcare campus in Central Missouri. The concrete masonry units (CMUs) were manufactured by Midwest Block and Brick and utilized Arcosa lightweight aggregate fines.

Nearly a quarter-century after it was first conceived, NRG Stadium continues to stand as a testament to innovative architectural design and engineering prowess in Houston, Texas. Construction began in July 2000 and was completed in just 30 months, a feat partly achieved by leveraging the use of lightweight concrete masonry units (CMUs).