A retaining wall having a plurality of courses of retaining wall blocks including a first upper course and a second lower course. Each retaining wall block has opposed front and rear faces, opposed first and second side surfaces, and opposed and substantially parallel upper and lower surfaces, and at least one weight bearing pad extends from one of the upper and lower surfaces. The at least one weight bearing pad extends substantially from the rear face to the front face of the block. The weight bearing pads are the only areas of contact between the blocks in the first upper course and the blocks in the second lower course.

A mold assembly and method for molding two concrete blocks in face-to-face non-contacting relationship forms blocks having smooth texture front faces. The mold assembly includes a mold box having two mold cavities configured to form two blocks in face-to-face non-contacting relationship. A common partition plate separates the two mold cavities and opposite sides of the partition plate form the smooth front faces of the blocks. The two mold cavities are each configured to form a block having a raised front face with a beveled edge around its entire perimeter and a border around the entire perimeter of the beveled edge. The portions of the border at the top and the sides of the raised front face are curved and the portion of the border at the bottom of the raised front face is straight. A core bar is slidably inserted into the mold box beneath the bottom of the partition plate, and opposite sides of the core bar extend into and form the front bottom portions of the mold cavities.

The disclosure is directed to thermal and moisture insulated interlocking brick comprising natural, in-situ carved stone faade coupled to a backing layer comprised of a massive and lightweight portions, as well as methods of forming the brick and methods for cladding and using the bricks in load bearing walls and in non-load-bearing walls (light construction).

A retaining wall having a plurality of courses of retaining wall blocks including a first upper course and a second lower course. Each retaining wall block has opposed front and rear faces, opposed first and second side surfaces, and opposed and substantially parallel upper and lower surfaces, and at least one weight bearing pad extends from one of the upper and lower surfaces. The at least one weight bearing pad extends substantially from the rear face to the front face of the block. The weight bearing pads are the only areas of contact between the blocks in the first upper course and the blocks in the second lower course.

A retaining wall having a plurality of courses of retaining wall blocks including a first upper course and a second lower course. Each retaining wall block has opposed front and rear faces, opposed first and second side surfaces, and opposed and substantially parallel upper and lower surfaces, and at least one weight bearing pad extends from one of the upper and lower surfaces. The at least one weight bearing pad extends substantially from the rear face to the front face of the block. The weight bearing pads are the only areas of contact between the blocks in the first upper course and the blocks in the second lower course.

A mold part of a modular concrete block mold has an additively manufactured region or is an additively manufactured mold part. The additively manufactured region may be a 3D metal printing region or the additively manufactured mold part may be a 3D metal printing mold part. The mold part may have a milled or cast region and the additively manufactured region.

A mold assembly for forming concrete products comprises a plurality of partition plates spanning between pairs of end plates and forming one or more columns within a product mold matrix, where each of the partition plates have edge surfaces on each long end adjacent a respective one of the end plates and opposing faces along an expanse of the partition plate. A plurality of liners span between pairs of partition plates and form one or more rows within the product mold matrix, where each of the liners include edge surfaces on each long end adjacent a respective one of the partition plates, and buttons projecting from the edge surfaces of the liners configured to be received within complementary apertures formed through the faces of adjacent partition plates.