Welcome to the website for the Direct Design Handbook for Masonry Structures.  All updates, errata, and help files will be posted here as they become available.  A description of the Handbook and costs are shown below. If you have an inquiry, please email it to tmspublications@masonrysociety.org.  We will acknowledge your message as soon as we receive it.  For technical inquiries, please allow up to one week for a response. 

Direct Design Handbook for Masonry Structures (hereinafter referred to as the Handbook) was developed by The Masonry Society’s Design Practices Committee.  This Handbook provides a direct procedure for the structural design of single-story, concrete masonry structures.  This Handbook provides designs for both reinforced and unreinforced masonry.  The procedure is based on the strength design provisions of TMS 402-08/ACI 530-08/ASCE 5-08 Building Code Requirements for Masonry Structures and ASCE 7-05 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures.  The document is applicable to both residential and commercial structures and it was recently approved by the 2012 International Building Code (IBC) and 2012 International Residential Code (IRC) as an alternative design method for masonry structures. So that users are required to do only minimal calculation, parameters are limited and design options are dictated.  This Handbook applies to common structures over the vast majority of the United States including mapped ground snow loads up to 60 lb/ft² (2.9 kPa), mapped basic wind speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph), mapped seismic 0.2 second spectral response accelerations up to 1.5g, and mapped seismic 1.0 second spectral response accelerations up to 3.0g. This Handbook was developed as a consensus standard and written in mandatory language so that it may form a part of a legally adopted building code as an alternative to standards that address a much broader range of masonry construction.  The direct design procedure is provided for the most common structures and then modifications to the direct design procedure are provided for some other conditions.  This Handbook was written so that architects, engineers, contractors, building officials, researchers, educators, suppliers, manufacturers and others may use the standard in their practice for various purposes.  Among the topics covered are reference standards, definitions and notations, site limitations, architectural limitations, loading limitations, material and construction requirements, direct design procedure, optional modifications to the direct design procedure, specifications, and details.  The Commentary to this Handbook presents background analysis, details and committee considerations used to develop this Handbook. While not part of the legal requirements of this standardized Handbook, an Appendix providing an example of how to use the direct design procedure for a typical masonry building is provided following the Commentary.

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