Masonry Magazine June 1995 Page. 27
"The code has a strong California influence on high stress levels because of the earthquake possibilities," he explained. "The strength design area of the code is 10 times better than the working stress portion which is still an option, although it will probably be phased out in another decade."
Making walls more moisture-resistant was the topic of Dr. Robert Drysdale's presentation. He is professor of civil engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. How do you make an old wall better? The installation of flashing at the base to drain water to the outside is one way. His slide show included several innovative test walls being drenched and tested for moisture resistance.
Turner Smith of Masonry Contract Consultants of Houston, Texas, spoke on ethics in masonry. "When a building is going up, the job chain runs from owner to architect to engineer to general contractor to general supplier to mason contractor," he said. "The mason contractor has the least to say about the job, but if there's a problem, he usually gets most of the blame. Smith noted that "know-it-all" general contractors are most likely to be guilty of cost-cutting measures that result in poor quality materials being used or poor workmanship due to re-bidding to get a lower price.
"What the industry needs is a combined effort to develop criteria for design, workmanship, materials and maintenance standards to avoid these kinds of abuses," he said. Dr. Achmed Hamid, professor of civil engineering at United Arab Emirates University, reported on incorporating innovation in masonry courses. He cited a Drexel University study that let undergraduates get out of the classroom occasionally. "Instead of just the regular classroom situation, the study found that students had their interest in engineering design stimulated by going into the lab to test materials, making field trips to construction sites and working with different computer applications," explained Hamid.
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MEETING THE CHALLENGES
Continued from Page 18
plan also calls for each state association to hold planning sessions each the state associations and by NCMA. committees for meetings at convention. It also established a mechanism "to discuss and buy into programs" by the state associations and by NCMA." At a meeting of the state associations and NCMA officers and senior staff in September, the plan to expand housing market share was approved, with a decision made to generate funding, based on production capacities, in each state. Oberfield urged all members to encourage the state associations to fund the housing plan. He said it is "critical that something be done now, not in five years to get this alliance working." Meanwhile, Oberfield said a two-
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MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1995 27