Presently, exterior brick veneer on a building is used primarily for aesthetics and to provide a weathering surface. No consideration is given to the utilization of the veneer as a structural component. All lateral loads (i.e., wind and earthquake) acting on the brick veneer must be transferred to a backup wall system by means of appropriately designed ties. In most cases, the backup wall consists of concrete masonry units and is designed to resist all of the applied loads.

The Block Shear™ Connector was developed to transfer shear between the brick veneer and the backup wall. With the use of this shear resisting connector, composite load carrying action is achieved between the brick veneer and backup wall, resulting in a wall system with a changed and improved load resisting capacity.