On the other hand, for a retaining wall over 3 feet tall, he is always going to recommend a concrete block core, complete with drain pipes, itself a far cry from our ancestors' dry stack walls.

Unlike a regular concrete-block wall, brattices aren’t built on a level surface. The concrete block must be shaped to fit, and we did not have a masonry saw or any other specialized tool. The only ...

Home & Garden Concrete block is a reliable building material Updated: Dec. 06, 2013, 6:00 p.m. | Published: Dec. 06, 2013, 5:00 p.m. By Tim Carter/Ask the Builder ...

As much as 80 percent of the block is air, which is a good insulator. The blocks are assembled with mortar similarly to any concrete-block wall.

You can build a concrete block foundation that’s stronger and more durable than a poured wall as long as the block foundation has lots of vertical and horizontal steel in it and the void spaces ...

Cinder blocks — and later, concrete blocks — were readily available. During the 1920s, molded blocks (to mimic stone) were used above grade as an exterior wall treatment on some houses.

Gregg and Kenda Ottinger of Shawnee, Kan., threw out the railroad ties that lined their 60-foot-long driveway and replaced them with a concrete-block wall two years ago.

However, Nendo showcases an example of a greener way to build with its Block-Wall House, which was part-built using a novel concrete that actually captures CO2 instead of emitting it.