Category: Joint Reinforcement

Joint reinforcement is installed in horizontal mortar joints of masonry for shrinkage stress control. For joint reinforcement to effectively distribute stress it must be adequately bonded through the mortar so that the masonry and reinforcement act together.

Applications of Joint Reinforcement

• Reinforced Masonry – Joint reinforcement either alone or in conjunction with wider-spaced bond beams contributes to the area of steel requirements in reinforced masonry.
• Wall Intersections – Partition-Lok® and Corner-Lok® are prefabricated pieces of corner and tee joint reinforcement used to join masonry walls at intersections and corners.
• Stress Distribution – Continuous joint reinforcement is used to distribute stress concentrations that occur above and below windows, or where wall sections are reduced because of embedded columns, and below concentrated loads such as beams and slabs. An important application of stress distribution joint reinforcement is to safeguard the integrity of masonry walls from unexpected and difficult-to-design-for events such as industrial explosions and accidents.