We are building a pier and beam house. Rather than used regular
concrete blocks for the crawl space I was thinking of using split
faced blocks. Will that work? How does the cost compare? Also, is
it more effort for the mason and does it cost more?

It is just material cost, I did some a decade ago and the block was about 2.5
times as much as a standard building unit.

wrote:
We are building a pier and beam house. Rather than used regular
concrete blocks for the crawl space I was thinking of using split
faced blocks. Will that work? How does the cost compare? Also, is
it more effort for the mason and does it cost more?

I'm pretty sure that split face block requires waterproofing after it
is installed and on a regular schedule thereafter. I would check to
make sure you are not going to stuck with an extra cost or a
maintenance item you weren't counting on.

Chuck

Also, depending on the mason, there may be a 'surcharge' for using
split-faced block. They weigh about 1.5 times a standard block. So,
from a physics standpoint it's 1.5 times the amount of work to lift
each block and place it on the wall. Consequently, the cost should be
about 150% of standard block. Something to think about, huh?
gd&r

-Phil Crow