GROUT

Schmitzmix Performance Grouts

Also known as “blockfill” or “sloppy concrete,” grout – and the mix expertise necessary to make it – is often taken for granted.

Schmitz Ready Mix Plant Managers often get calls for a basic “pea-gravel” blockfill, which they are willing to provide.  But grout-mix technology is anything but basic.

For reinforced masonry, the appropriate fine or coarse grout mix must meet compressive strength and shear strength specifications, and yet be fluid enough to completely fill the hollow masonry units cells (or brick wall grout spaces), while flowing around the reinforcement, and completely surrounding and bonding to the steel, the masonry unit, and the joints between masonry units.

Proper aggregate gradation and mix consistency (slump) are necessary to keep the grout from hanging up or otherwise causing voids.  Changing weather conditions (temperature and/or humidity) can require mix design adjustments.

In concert with the architect, engineer, or general contractor, admixtures are often added by Schmitz Ready Mix to grout mixes to:

• accelerate set in cold weather
• retard set in hot weather
• improve fluidity without impacting the mix water/cement ratio. 

The change in 2005 in the MSJC/ACI 530 code, which raised the maximum grout lift feature height from 5 feet to 12.67 feet has further complicated grout mix design, as potential segregation and bleed water issues come into greater play.

To meet theses challenges, self-consolidating grouts (SCGs) are now available, which can save contractors time and money while greatly improving the performance and structural integrity of reinforced masonry.

An in-depth discussion of the technical aspects of grout can be found in the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) publication, Grout. A read-only version of the publication can be accessed by clicking here.

Schmitz Ready Mix enjoys working with specifiers and testing labs to provide performance grout mixes to help contractors better manage increased lift heights, improve productivity and lower labor costs, reduce efflorescence, or provide better bond to reinforcing steel. 

Contact Jason Libka, Quality Control Manager, JLibka@schmitzmix.com • 414.831.2434. 

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