Lightweight CMU
- Home
- Case Studies
- Lightweight CMU
Lightweight CMU
Lightweight concrete masonry offers significant advantages in construction, including reduced weight,
improved thermal performance, and ease of handling. Using Arcosa Lightweight aggregate, these projects
demonstrate the benefits of lightweight concrete masonry in creating durable, energy-efficient, and
versatile building structures.
Building for Safety: Lightweight Block Protects Guntersville Students
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.
Learn More
Clinch County School Leverages Lightweight CMUs for Durability
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.
Learn More
Longtime Masons Describe Real Advantages of Lightweight Concrete Block
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.
Learn More
Tennessee High School Boasts 450,000 Lightweight Block
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.
Learn More
NRG Stadium: A Testament to Innovative Construction and Design
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).
Learn More
Over 1-Million Lightweight Block in Missouri State Hospital
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.
Learn More
Automotive Support Building Features 3-Hour Fire Rated CMU
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.
Learn More
Southeastern United States a Lightweight Concrete Masonry Market
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.
Learn More
