Some construction terms are more cryptic than others but this week’s post is for a simple acronym: CMU.

CMU stands for concrete masonry unit and is used in various ways; when I was a kid CMU blocks supported planks that held up the stereo system and record player (emblematic of the 1970’s).

According to the Construction Dictionary, 9th Edition © 2001 published by the Greater Phoenix, Arizona Chapter #98 of the National Association of Women in Construction concrete masonry unit (CMU) is defined as follows:

A solid or hollow masonry unit made from water, portland cement, and suitable aggregates such as sand, gravel, crushed stone, bituminous or anthracite cinder, expanded clay or shale, pumice, volcanic scoria, aircooled or expanded blast furnace slag, with or without other materials and molded into various shapes.

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