I have been following this lok n bolk for all these years. I too am developing a full alternative construction system. I 100% agree with the challenges he had to overcome. The Industry is highly organised to defend itself from disruptive technologies. Only right applications and addressing all aspects of construction will lead to viability and market acceptance.
Compression in design makes me happy❤❤😂😂. I dont know why but when you throw in a Compression member in the structural design its amazing how much you can hold.
this is awesome but...apparently entirely unavailable for average people, as far as i can tell. or maybe it's just in the US because of codes so far. i'd love to get an order of these to build a shed or something, but can't find a way to buy them!
There is a tremendous amount of scrap plastics in the Caribbean, including Honduras. If you got the cooperation of a country like Honduras, it would have all the labor you need and all the scrap plastic that could be shipped to the facility from all over the Atlantic nations.
This has potential. The issue is that people, builders, get crucified for trying new when something fails. There must be a very compelling reason(s) to change, greater than the downside. I am known as "an earlier adopter", so don't consider me a downer-dude. Of course, the attributes and selling features sounds great, and I'd love to use this product, but a good example of a "not as advertised" product was the initial composite decking, Treks like material. It warped after a certain period of exposure to the sun. It failed. Since then has been improved, but first users take big risk. That contractor gets paid to install, not to take big risk - like getting sued. This is the reason why construction is slow to adopt new. Again, I am a pioneer and hope this works. I've had discussions with Greg and no results yet. Testing is imperative to get an arch to spec this product and have a building official plan reviewer approve it. Litigation is why all this moves slow and people don't try new as fast as we need. Litigation - Another black hole topic that plagues America and or industry. In foreign countries they don't have the same legal risk we do in the US. Attorneys hamper innovation and growth, as indicated in Greg's pursuit of his patent. My fingers are crossed, cheering for Greg, and hope to be a customer.
In rural areas of Central America, there are numerous termites. The termites destroy most wood structures. Termites are not destroyed by builders because termites feed lots of their sources of protein namely chicken. Chickens eat termites and people cook the chickens.
Definitely interested in this, it's nice to see an engineer talking about new products for a change rather than a sales person. I think the deconstruct-ability will be huge for these, this would be useful for all sorts of temporary structures not even related to buildings.
Central American is in desperate need for large scale industries such as this idea could create. They also need products to ship worldwide that don't depend on the economy of any one country or one product. Very exciting product idea!!!
I hope with the success of this company they would help build more MRF stations to take in plastic waste because the usa is not doing it, wasn't even included in the infrastructure plan for some reason (maybe the oil industry). Could even get the government to shift subsides set aside for oil to switch over to recycling.
Labour costs were not discussed in the light of comparing concrete block construction. If the construction time is half that of concrete block building, then that should be seen as a big saving in labour costs. The reduction in work injury also contributes to cost reduction. The only thing not discussed was fire-resistance. Belinda has always compared products' fire-resistance and water absorption characteristics.
No extra cladding or insulation needed with ICF. By the time you add insulation to this product, i imagine ICF would come in at a lower cost, including labor.
I am not a builder but I did notice one issue when laying pipe in the channel.....once a pipe is there, no tension bars can be inserted ....a modification, having 2 and not one channel should address this issue....also the vertical slots must also be wide enough to accommodate downward pipes.....
The voids for the tension bars are on either side of the pipe channel, but I agree with the latter part of your assessment! The vertical slots could be larger.
How do slabs and multistorey construction work in this model? How does this withstand extremely hot weather like 50C where even the tar on the roads melt in summers. If this is embraced in other countries, can we see model houses from those places? A fully built model house with all electrics, plumbing, fitting etc is absolutely essential to get the idea across..
Have you guys considered the secondary effects of this becoming a usable product. Like how this could possibly increase the value of recycled plastic and/or maybe cause even more plastic products to be created
I wonder if the two of you would ever consider drawing up plans to be submitted to our building commissioners, including any required foundation requirements and sell these plans and assist in selling these plans for city approval including story buildings and complexes for senior citizens. And, perhaps start to license approved contractors to do these buildings.
@@sparksmcgee6641 That's a real good idea. I've hired and fired an architect already. He didn't have any idea of how to build on property like mine and he didn't have any understanding of how to make building plots that look best on properties my size, 203 feet by 412 feet. My cousin has a son who is a CAD-CAM designer who works with architects in his area of Nebraska. I'm still searching for that willing independent draftsman.😃
This is so exciting. My imagination is running wild with ideas about what could be done with this new product. This company and it's creators needs our support. I would love to see the wide spread application of this product. Hope that Approval comes in soon!!
I invented this system in 1994. I called it LokBlok. I took my idea to a UK firm which claimed to support inventors. They charged me a fee to compile a tidy folder containing drawings and explanations etc., but then did nothing else. (Shortly afterwards, the firm was closed down in some sort of fraud scandal.) I still have the folder somewhere. I approached a few firms who I thought might be interested in developing the idea, but they said that the construction industry was very conservative and nobody would invest money in anything radically different.
These blocks need to be cut on the ends, corners and such. Are there thin cut lines built in so it is easy to know where to cut? Could long pieces plastic channel be made so there is something to attach the tensioning rods to when there is no concrete foundation, like his example of replacing tents?
Their website has a pdf you can download that would answer your questions. From what I've read so far, I think "yes" is the answer to all of your questions.
loc-n-Bloc does not support combustion. If a propane torch will cause it to melt &smoke, both of which are nontoxic. Remove the torch and these effect cease. E.Ayo, board member
I'm not sure how realistic it would be to build temporary shelters with these blocks because they need to have compression rods tying them down to a foundation.
Question: how do you secure the tension rods to the slab? They can’t be poured in because the. You’d need to lift the blocks over the top of the rod to stack them. I can’t think how they could be attached after the slab is poured and the wall stacked. I f you anchored a nut into the concrete, you have to cot into the bottom block to align the tension rod. Hmmm. Am I missing something? How are the rods secured? I love the concept and wish nothing but the best. I’ve worked in the SIP and ICF industries and the biggest hurdle was/is the contractors’ reluctance to try Anything new.
ICON 3D printed homes uses a tension rod that spans vertically from slab to top of wall. It is threaded and screws into a nut, where said nut is cast into the slab. (Austin does slabs but footers would work too )
@@mefobills279 I see. So the tension rods go on the inside between the concrete and a framed interior wall? But no horizontal rebar either? I live in earthquake prone Southern California so how is lateral stability achieved?
@randycarroll-bradd4894 I saw a tension rod running horizontally . It was at a doorway if I remember correctly. I would design with an acme threaded bolt cast into the footer. Vertically oriented tension rod is fed thru interior of wall and secured to nut. Then top plate is bolted on, compressing the wall. Horizontal tension would also be required for earthquake zones. Diamond age, another 3D construction company uses wire rope instead of tension rods inside of their walls. The rod or rope tension is within the block wall.
I called several times to get price and delivery so I could give my customer a price. Still no call back! Always looking for new products to sell and install. Eric N
And, there might be countries and cities that would pay you to take their waste plastics off their hands. Chip the plastic up, wash it, charge communities to pay for the cleaning of the plastic, as you return a finished product to them to use for homeless housing projects or top of the line beautiful houses perhaps with optimization strategies to use the earth to heat and cool the buildings with the assistance of solar panels replacing exterior siding.
They usually don't care. You just show them the ES report he was talking about. You can't just tell them what you want to use, you just use the details from their website and staple them to the back of your plans. Don't bring it up just submit it.
Another great podcast. His problem is so indicative of the resistance of the American regulatory body to accept and not roadblock a vastly better product than is currently available. When you have lobbyists, even at the local level, who have politicians, i.e. regulators, instead of being fire-starters on technology like this, instead, are fire-extinguishers. It reminds me of the famous line from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged "When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you -When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed." Lok-N-Blok is stronger, lighter, more environmentally friendly but that goes out the window when you haven't paid the right people. No different with crypto and the XRP debacle. The world is adopting it but ONLY the USA is dragging it through court. Ambiguity masquerading as authority but I digress. Belinda, you are a wizard with week after week producing these titans of industry.
I could walk thus product through any building department, no problem. People like you ranting show they know nothing about actual building science or how to build what your talking about.
Because he talked so slow, I had a hard time listening to this guy. Sped up the video to 1.5 and while he spoke, it was great but than you sounded like a chipmunk.
I have been following this lok n bolk for all these years. I too am developing a full alternative construction system. I 100% agree with the challenges he had to overcome. The Industry is highly organised to defend itself from disruptive technologies. Only right applications and addressing all aspects of construction will lead to viability and market acceptance.
Compression in design makes me happy❤❤😂😂. I dont know why but when you throw in a Compression member in the structural design its amazing how much you can hold.
this is awesome but...apparently entirely unavailable for average people, as far as i can tell. or maybe it's just in the US because of codes so far. i'd love to get an order of these to build a shed or something, but can't find a way to buy them!
There is a tremendous amount of scrap plastics in the Caribbean, including Honduras. If you got the cooperation of a country like Honduras, it would have all the labor you need and all the scrap plastic that could be shipped to the facility from all over the Atlantic nations.
Such an exciting potential here!
This has potential. The issue is that people, builders, get crucified for trying new when something fails. There must be a very compelling reason(s) to change, greater than the downside. I am known as "an earlier adopter", so don't consider me a downer-dude. Of course, the attributes and selling features sounds great, and I'd love to use this product, but a good example of a "not as advertised" product was the initial composite decking, Treks like material. It warped after a certain period of exposure to the sun. It failed. Since then has been improved, but first users take big risk. That contractor gets paid to install, not to take big risk - like getting sued. This is the reason why construction is slow to adopt new. Again, I am a pioneer and hope this works. I've had discussions with Greg and no results yet. Testing is imperative to get an arch to spec this product and have a building official plan reviewer approve it. Litigation is why all this moves slow and people don't try new as fast as we need. Litigation - Another black hole topic that plagues America and or industry. In foreign countries they don't have the same legal risk we do in the US. Attorneys hamper innovation and growth, as indicated in Greg's pursuit of his patent. My fingers are crossed, cheering for Greg, and hope to be a customer.
In rural areas of Central America, there are numerous termites. The termites destroy most wood structures. Termites are not destroyed by builders because termites feed lots of their sources of protein namely chicken. Chickens eat termites and people cook the chickens.
Thanks for sharing!
need to get in touch with this guy
Definitely interested in this, it's nice to see an engineer talking about new products for a change rather than a sales person.
I think the deconstruct-ability will be huge for these, this would be useful for all sorts of temporary structures not even related to buildings.
Central American is in desperate need for large scale industries such as this idea could create. They also need products to ship worldwide that don't depend on the economy of any one country or one product. Very exciting product idea!!!
I hope with the success of this company they would help build more MRF stations to take in plastic waste because the usa is not doing it, wasn't even included in the infrastructure plan for some reason (maybe the oil industry). Could even get the government to shift subsides set aside for oil to switch over to recycling.
Labour costs were not discussed in the light of comparing concrete block construction. If the construction time is half that of concrete block building, then that should be seen as a big saving in labour costs. The reduction in work injury also contributes to cost reduction.
The only thing not discussed was fire-resistance. Belinda has always compared products' fire-resistance and water absorption characteristics.
We missed that topic in the podcast but the company has a demonstration of the product's fire resistance on their TH-cam channel and facebook page.
No extra cladding or insulation needed with ICF. By the time you add insulation to this product, i imagine ICF would come in at a lower cost, including labor.
I am not a builder but I did notice one issue when laying pipe in the channel.....once a pipe is there, no tension bars can be inserted ....a modification, having 2 and not one channel should address this issue....also the vertical slots must also be wide enough to accommodate downward pipes.....
The voids for the tension bars are on either side of the pipe channel, but I agree with the latter part of your assessment! The vertical slots could be larger.
How do slabs and multistorey construction work in this model? How does this withstand extremely hot weather like 50C where even the tar on the roads melt in summers. If this is embraced in other countries, can we see model houses from those places? A fully built model house with all electrics, plumbing, fitting etc is absolutely essential to get the idea across..
Great job on this interview. It looks like a very interesting product and I wish him lots of success
How could your product be used for foundation construction ?
I do wonder if they're using springs in their post-tension rods to compensate for the PP creep. And, if so, what is that creep rate?
Good question. I think the rods secure the wall, not as a compensation for shrinkage. Good question, though.
Have you guys considered the secondary effects of this becoming a usable product. Like how this could possibly increase the value of recycled plastic and/or maybe cause even more plastic products to be created
I wonder if the two of you would ever consider drawing up plans to be submitted to our building commissioners, including any required foundation requirements and sell these plans and assist in selling these plans for city approval including story buildings and complexes for senior citizens. And, perhaps start to license approved contractors to do these buildings.
People always ask that. Then the plans never sell because it's "not quite what I want". Find a drafter and pay the few hundred to make it yourself.
@@sparksmcgee6641 That's a real good idea. I've hired and fired an architect already. He didn't have any idea of how to build on property like mine and he didn't have any understanding of how to make building plots that look best on properties my size, 203 feet by 412 feet. My cousin has a son who is a CAD-CAM designer who works with architects in his area of Nebraska. I'm still searching for that willing independent draftsman.😃
This is so exciting. My imagination is running wild with ideas about what could be done with this new product. This company and it's creators needs our support. I would love to see the wide spread application of this product. Hope that Approval comes in soon!!
Are there any special foundation types these work best with?
Where and when can I purchase this product? I'm building in Mexico
Great episode 👍
I would use it.
Cheers
where do you buy these? It doesn't seem to mentioned anywhere.
I would love to buy some right now as a "toy" for kids to build playhouses with. Would the government allow that?
As long as you're not selling the playhouses I don't think the government would mind! :)
WHO DOESN’T LIKE 👍 LEGOS🤗💚💚💚
Lego is an uncountable noun, so to call it "Legos" is grammatically incorrect.
I invented this system in 1994. I called it LokBlok. I took my idea to a UK firm which claimed to support inventors. They charged me a fee to compile a tidy folder containing drawings and explanations etc., but then did nothing else. (Shortly afterwards, the firm was closed down in some sort of fraud scandal.) I still have the folder somewhere. I approached a few firms who I thought might be interested in developing the idea, but they said that the construction industry was very conservative and nobody would invest money in anything radically different.
These blocks need to be cut on the ends, corners and such. Are there thin cut lines built in so it is easy to know where to cut? Could long pieces plastic channel be made so there is something to attach the tensioning rods to when there is no concrete foundation, like his example of replacing tents?
Their website has a pdf you can download that would answer your questions. From what I've read so far, I think "yes" is the answer to all of your questions.
Wait! "meets 250mph winds"?! Seems like that should be more prominent in these videos (and on the website)
I am wondering if this would be a good retaining wall
That was the original idea for the product!
I'd be curious as to its Fire Resistance Level.
They have a video of their fire resistance test on their TH-cam page/facebook page!
loc-n-Bloc does not support combustion. If a propane torch will cause it to melt &smoke, both of which are nontoxic. Remove the torch and these effect cease. E.Ayo, board member
I'm not sure how realistic it would be to build temporary shelters with these blocks because they need to have compression rods tying them down to a foundation.
This is so cool. I love this.
Could these blocks be made at 1/2 scale and used to build sheds?
Once they scale up production, I'm sure they'll look at expanding their product line!
Question: how do you secure the tension rods to the slab?
They can’t be poured in because the. You’d need to lift the blocks over the top of the rod to stack them.
I can’t think how they could be attached after the slab is poured and the wall stacked.
I f you anchored a nut into the concrete, you have to cot into the bottom block to align the tension rod.
Hmmm. Am I missing something? How are the rods secured?
I love the concept and wish nothing but the best.
I’ve worked in the SIP and ICF industries and the biggest hurdle was/is the contractors’ reluctance to try Anything new.
ICON 3D printed homes uses a tension rod that spans vertically from slab to top of wall. It is threaded and screws into a nut, where said nut is cast into the slab. (Austin does slabs but footers would work too )
@@mefobills279 I see. So the tension rods go on the inside between the concrete and a framed interior wall? But no horizontal rebar either? I live in earthquake prone Southern California so how is lateral stability achieved?
@randycarroll-bradd4894 I saw a tension rod running horizontally . It was at a doorway if I remember correctly. I would design with an acme threaded bolt cast into the footer. Vertically oriented tension rod is fed thru interior of wall and secured to nut. Then top plate is bolted on, compressing the wall. Horizontal tension would also be required for earthquake zones. Diamond age, another 3D construction company uses wire rope instead of tension rods inside of their walls. The rod or rope tension is within the block wall.
I called several times to get price and delivery so I could give my customer a price. Still no call back! Always looking for new products to sell and install. Eric N
And, there might be countries and cities that would pay you to take their waste plastics off their hands. Chip the plastic up, wash it, charge communities to pay for the cleaning of the plastic, as you return a finished product to them to use for homeless housing projects or top of the line beautiful houses perhaps with optimization strategies to use the earth to heat and cool the buildings with the assistance of solar panels replacing exterior siding.
The block system is not available at the moment, because Greg probably sold out to the military-industrial-complex.
How do you get past the building commissioner who doesn't want any new technologies?
They usually don't care. You just show them the ES report he was talking about. You can't just tell them what you want to use, you just use the details from their website and staple them to the back of your plans. Don't bring it up just submit it.
@@sparksmcgee6641 Thanks Sparks
What is the u-value of this? New standards are so onerous with u-values
Another great podcast. His problem is so indicative of the resistance of the American regulatory body to accept and not roadblock a vastly better product than is currently available. When you have lobbyists, even at the local level, who have politicians, i.e. regulators, instead of being fire-starters on technology like this, instead, are fire-extinguishers. It reminds me of the famous line from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged "When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you -When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed." Lok-N-Blok is stronger, lighter, more environmentally friendly but that goes out the window when you haven't paid the right people. No different with crypto and the XRP debacle. The world is adopting it but ONLY the USA is dragging it through court. Ambiguity masquerading as authority but I digress. Belinda, you are a wizard with week after week producing these titans of industry.
I could walk thus product through any building department, no problem. People like you ranting show they know nothing about actual building science or how to build what your talking about.
Because he talked so slow, I had a hard time listening to this guy. Sped up the video to 1.5 and while he spoke, it was great but than you sounded like a chipmunk.