South Boston Infill and Small Developments

"Cinder block" is a widely used term for what may technically be a CMU. There is no ambiguity with whatever century-old material you referenced.

"Cinder block" may garner odd looks on a job site, but "My college dorm had concrete masonry unit walls" rings equally odd to a layman.
 
Jouhou said:
Uh. Cinder Blocks are a real building material?
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JouHou -- Yes there is -- CMU or Concrete Masonry Units are what is known in literary / media circles as a euphemism -- i.e. it sounds a lot more sophisticated and authoritative


However we all know the Authoritative Wikipedia

Concrete masonry unit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Cinder block" redirects here. For the American singer, see Cinder Block (musician).
"Breeze Block" redirects here. For the UK TV series, see Breeze Block (TV series).
"Breezeblocks" redirects here. For the song by Alt+J, see Breezeblocks (song).

A concrete masonry unit (CMU) – also called hollow block, concrete brick, concrete block, cement block, besser block, breeze block and cinder block – is a large rectangular block used in building construction.

Composition[edit]
Concrete blocks are made from cast concrete, e.g. Portland cement and aggregate, usually sand and fine gravel for high-density blocks. Lower density blocks may use industrial wastes as an aggregate. Lightweight blocks can also be produced using aerated concrete.

Nomenclature[edit]
Those that use cinders (fly ash or bottom ash) are called cinder blocks in Canada, the US and New Zealand, breeze blocks (breeze is a synonym of ash)[1] in the UK and New Zealand, and hollow blocks in the Philippines. In Australia they are also known as besser blocks or besser bricks, because the American-based Besser Company is a major supplier of concrete-block-making machinery. Clinker blocks use clinker as aggregate. In non-technical usage, the terms cinder block and breeze block are often generalized to cover all of these varieties.
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But the whole point of my use of the term was to immediately create in the reader's mind the look and revulsion at the thought

I have seen entire structures made of these blocks -- usually used for storing things -- sometimes they are used for "cheap and dirty" foundations -- however to have sufficient load bearing strength they need to be filled with concrete, Any anchors inserted into them should penetrate into the concrete or at least into the web not just the wall of the block

I also personally was involved with their misuse -- My 1946 vintage house in Lexington came originally with an attached garage. Sometime later someone built some bedrooms above the garage. When they did that work -- they failed to address the state of the foundation. Some time later -- the person who I purchased the house from in the late 1980's, and who your tax dollars pay to design satellite instruments and satellites for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory -- added a deck behind the garage. He used short expansion anchors set into the cinder blocks [unfilled]. He also used a presumably surplus cinder block to support the downslope corner of the deck furthest from the house with no foundation underneath it.

Three years ago the concoction finally gave out. First the open block supporting the downslope corner of the deck slipped. The deck then in trying to slide down the hill pulled 3 of the anchors holding the ledger board out from the cinder block foundation wall of the garage.

This was annoying beyond belief. However, after six months of constant emergency shoring -- the whole contraption has now been replaced with a properly designed, engineered and constructed much larger deck which no longer depends on the garage foundation wall for anything except some minor vertical loading.

:mad:
 
fattony said:
"Cinder block" is a widely used term for what may technically be a CMU. There is no ambiguity with whatever century-old material you referenced.

"Cinder block" may garner odd looks on a job site, but "My college dorm had concrete masonry unit walls" rings equally odd to a layman.
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Yup ... go with it. That is what is cool about language. Use what works. I was just pointing out that I have not heard that term used in 25 years of visiting job sites. Maybe everyone just laughs at me for saying CMU.

cca
 
BLDUP said:
SOBO Place
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FiDi I can live with. SoWa is cute.

SOBO is...

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Lazy building facade is lazy.
 
cca said:
Yup ... go with it. That is what is cool about language. Use what works. I was just pointing out that I have not heard that term used in 25 years of visiting job sites. Maybe everyone just laughs at me for saying CMU.

cca
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CCA -- I think engineers might call it CMU -- they like acronyms it reminds them of NASA and DARPA
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Construction workers -- they probably normally call it block or something obscene? -- they like to sound macho -- it reminds them of the Army or the Corps

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DigitalSciGuy said:
FiDi I can live with. SoWa is cute.

SOBO is...
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The rule should be, "Is it useful?" SoWa describes a section of neighborhood that didn't previously have a name. FiDi and SoBo are needless rehashes of existing space labels.
 
whighlander said:
CCA -- I think engineers might call it CMU -- they like acronyms it reminds them of NASA and DARPA
progmatt-lg.png


Construction workers -- they probably normally call it block or something obscene? -- they like to sound macho -- it reminds them of the Army or the Corps

pain.jpg

060802-m-1303w-002.jpg
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Man I dont miss doing that.
 
CCA - keep the knowledge coming, I learn a hell of a lot from you - but Westie's **colloquial** use of the term cinderblock to describe that monstrosity is spot on. It looks like a cheap college dorm turned inside-out. The proposed name is as graceless as the design... this is what happens when an overzealous real estate agent shakes hands with an EZ-Storage developer.
 
I work for the military. We use an obscene amount of Acronyms AND just plain obscene slang. And if I say "Cinder block" only my dad would correct me to "Concrete Block" CMU is industry-specific jargon to the layman. Just like in the military, it's all jargon to anyone on the outside.
 
Jouhou said:
I work for the military. We use an obscene amount of Acronyms AND just plain obscene slang. And if I say "Cinder block" only my dad would correct me to "Concrete Block" CMU is industry-specific jargon to the layman. Just like in the military, it's all jargon to anyone on the outside.
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Not to belabor too much, but cinder block refers specifically to concrete hollow blocks that utilize ash as part of the mix. You know, burning ash or "cinders" are actually in the block (though no longer burning....)

A square is always a rectangle, but a rectangle need not always be a square. It jargon in that it refers to concrete blocks in layman circles regardless of their chemical/material makeup.
 
Out of all the active projects on this forum, I think that that apartment building going up at 99 D St. is one of my favorites. It's not pushing any boundaries and it's not in an important location, but it seems like a near perfect example of urbanism. It's a dense, mixed-use building with a dignified and restrained appearance. The materials look nice and it adds to the street level. It's the filler building that all other filler buildings should look up to.
 
This is by far my favorite thread on the site. Every project is unique, and to the actual architecture buffs out there, they may not individually standout, but collectively they all add to the urbanity of the neighborhood in their own way. Tho they may not be architecturally significant alone, they are each unique and add to the vibrancy of southie in their own way. What was already a very desirable community will become even more so with the addition of these projects. My dream is for this type of infill to pop up in every neighborhood in the city. And BeeLine your photos allow me to enjoy this like I was standing on the sidewalk looking at them myself!
 
Deetroyt said:
This is by far my favorite thread on the site. Every project is unique, and to the actual architecture buffs out there, they may not individually standout, but collectively they all add to the urbanity of the neighborhood in their own way. Tho they may not be architecturally significant alone, they are each unique and add to the vibrancy of southie in their own way. What was already a very desirable community will become even more so with the addition of these projects. My dream is for this type of infill to pop up in every neighborhood in the city. And BeeLine your photos allow me to enjoy this like I was standing on the sidewalk looking at them myself!
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Yea this thread is great and I agree on all points. This is the kind of development that needs to be occurring all over Boston's outer neighborhoods and also further out in cities like Framingham and Worcester.
 
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