Concrete block wall

Claim 1

An assembly of building blocks comprising: a plurality of blocks, each block including a rectangular body having substantially parallel top and bottom faces, substantially parallel front and back faces, and substantially parallel right and left end faces; each of said faces being substantially planar; each top face including a groove disposed along a longitudinal axis of the top face, each groove having a pair of converging side surfaces extending along the longitudinal axis; each block having a pair of spaced bores intersecting the groove of the block and extending between the top and bottom faces substantially parallel to the front, back, and end faces of the block; adjacent blocks arranged in courses such that adjacent end faces are placed in mortarless abutment and adjacent grooves are substantially aligned; adjacent courses arranged in mortarless abutment such that at least a portion of the bores in adjacent courses are aligned; a first plurality of reinforcing rods disposed in said grooves to maintain said blocks in substantial alignment; a second plurality of reinforcing rods disposed in said bores to maintain said blocks in substantial alignment and to maintain each of said first plurality of rods in place against one of the converging side surfaces of each groove, said first and second pluralities of rods dimensioned smaller than the grooves and bores, respectively, to permit relative movement between adjacent blocks.