In Peru, the most commonly used structural system for housing construction is based on confined masonry walls. Solid engineered walls are regulated by the NTE-E070 standard, which lays down a required degree of earthquake resilience. However, around 60% of the population lives in non-engineered houses that use tubular blocks for their walls. This paper presents a comparison of the behaviors of non-engineered tubular block walls and solid engineered walls. Tests were performed on a tubular brick wall by subjecting it to horizontal cyclic loading to examine the effects under a constant axial load of 20 tf. Then, the test results were compared with those for walls in the CISMID Structural Lab database. The resistance of the tubular brick wall in terms of shear stress was found to be relatively low, having an average value of 4 kg/cm2, while the solid walls can withstand a shear stress in excess of 5.5 kg/cm2.