Cement block wall

The improvement in a wall, comprising:

• (a) said wall being formed by a multiplicity of cement blocks each having a pair of cells separated by a center tie wall, oppositely bounded by end tie walls, and having face shell side walls, said blocks being laid in upper and lower courses and in end-to-end series in each course, each block of an upper course having each half resting on a different bottom course block,
• (b) interposed members preformed independently of said wall and installed separating courses of blocks and separating adjacent blocks in each course, there being no mortar between courses of blocks and between adjacent blocks in each course,
• (c) each interposed member having a horizontal sheet-like portion and having integral therewith a vertical flange and each interposed member being associated with one upper course block with said horizontal portion extending substantially from end-to-end thereof and with said vertical flange connected to one end of said horizontal portion and lapping one end of the associated upper course block,
• (d) said interposed members having openings therein extending throughout most of the areas common in plan view to cells of lower course blocks and to the cells of upper course blocks generally superposed thereto, and reinforcing rods in at least some of said generally vertically alinge cells of blocks in said wall and grout encasing said rods
• (e) said vertical flange including portions adjacent to the vertical outer surfaces of face shell walls of the associated upper course block thereby having an appearance like a vertical mortar joint, and said horizontal portion extending to a location adjacent to the vertical outer surfaces of face shell walls of the associated block thereby having an appearance like a horizontal mortar joint.

The improvement in a wall, comprising:

• (a) said wall being formed primarily by a multiplicity of cement blocks each having a pair of cells separated by a center tie wall, oppositely bounded by end tie walls, and having face shell side walls, the cells tapering from bottom to top and having handholds at the upper inner edges of said center tie wall, said blocks being laid in lower and upper courses and in end-to-end series in each course, each block of an upper course having each half resting on a different bottom course block,
• (b) interengaging means preformed independently of said wall and installed to orient upper course blocks relative to lower course blocks and to secure upper course blocks from lateral shifting relative to lower course blocks, said interengaging means engaging in the lower walls of the upper course cells and engaging with the upper walls of lower course cells, the interengaging means having sufficient contacts with the engaged cell walls to accurately orient and to adequately secure the blocks involved against dislodgement,
• (c) said interengaging means having openings therein extending throughout most of the areas common in plan view to cells of lower course blocks and to the cells of upper course blocks generally superposed thereto, and reinforcing rods in at least some of said generally vertically aligned cells of blocks in said wall and grout encasing said rods
• (d) the interengaging means associated with each upper course block having a pair of upper engaging means for cells of upper course blocks which are differently located than lower engaging means for lower course blocks and are not fully superposed, said upper engaging means being more widely spaced laterally of said wall than said lower engaging means due to differences in dimensions in cell walls from bottom to top because of tapering thereto, and said upper engaging means being closer together for the cells of the associated upper course block than the associated lower engaging means due to the lapping of the associated upper course block half on each of two lower course blocks whereby said upper engaging means are separated by a center tie wall whereas lower flanges are separated by two end tie walls, and
• (e) said interengaging means including sealing means extending between the upper edges of each cell of a lower course block and the generally superimposed lower edges of a cell of an upper course block thereby sealing against grout leakage such as when reinforcing rods are grouted into cells in said wall, said sealing means closely and completely engaging the full upper edges of each cell of lower course blocks and closely and completely engaging the full lower edges of each cell of upper course blocks thereby making complete block seals against such grout leakage.