Is Your Home Built of Termite Food and Firewood, or is it Built to Last?
No one wants to think of the house they live in as being literal fuel for a fire, or food for pesky termites, but the reality is that wood frame houses are just that. Yes, they look beautiful, yes almost every contractor knows how to put one up, but the reality is that the maintenance on a traditionally built home includes a never-ending battle against termites, mold, fungus, and dry-rot, as well as the concern of what might happen in a fire.
What's the Alternative?
Short of spending massive amounts of money on brick, what's the alternative to traditional wood home construction? The answer goes by the nickname VOBB® (pronounced to rhyme with "fob,") and it's not only termite- and fire-proof, but it's also amazingly easy to build with, inexpensive to purchase and to maintain, and will save you money on your utilities and homeowners insurance premiums.
I recently had the chance to spend some time with Mark O'Reilly, president of David's Patio, Ltd., in Springtown, TX and local VOBB expert. He gave up the better part of an afternoon to show me just why VOBB® is so great, and why it's worth considering for almost any construction project.
Do you really call it VOBB®?
"It's Verot Oak Building Blocks," Mark explained to me, pronouncing 'Verot' with a hard 't' sound. "Or just call it VOBB®."
He then went on to show me a photo album full of construction projects - homes, businesses, and landscape walls among them – in various states of construction. I knew from my research that VOBB was a kind of concrete block, but I was clearly missing something important.
Why is it different?
"It's made just like regular concrete blocks," Mark said. "You know what those are, right? They use them for building Wal-Marts and storage units."
As soon as I'd confirmed that I had a basic knowledge of what a building block was, Mark went on. "With regular CMU - concrete masonry units – you have to lay each row of the blocks with mortar. This is very time consuming and the weakest part of the wall. It takes time and skill. With VOBB®, you dry stack – there's no mortar between the layers – so it takes a lot less time," Mark explained.
He elaborated upon his explanation, telling me that because the mortar compound goes inside the blocks instead of between the layers, it's possible to build with VOBB® even in inclement weather. You don't have to cover everything with tarps. He also explained that this construction, when you fill every other hole with mortar and reinforce with rebar, is ten times stronger than standard concrete block construction, and if you choose to put mortar and double rebar in every hole, it's 22 times stronger. He reminded me also that even conventional CMU construction is many times stronger than wood frame though it takes four times as long to build one.
This information led to my next question:
How difficult is VOBB® to build with?
"The answer is, it's not," quipped Mark. "Look behind you, see that bag of plastic pieces? Grab a few."
I turned around and saw the bag of grey and green plastic pieces he'd indicated, reached in and brought out a few, placing them on the edge of the desk in his office. "Are these the clips I read about?" I asked. In truth, I'd been expecting something clamp-like. These were…not.
"Yes," he said. "VOBB® blocks are grooved on each end, so when you put them next to each other, instead of having to have a person whose whole job is keeping the rows of blocks straight, you lay out the bricks, drop in the clips, tap them in place, and they keep the bricks lined up while you lay out the wall, and until they're filled with mortar." He gestured with his hands to show me how it worked, and I nodded to show that I understood.
He then had me look through his photo album, this time while he explained the various projects. The landscape terraces, he said, were put together by himself and members of his family, and most of the work was done in a single weekend. VOBB®'s dry stacking system means that once the grid is laid out, work goes incredibly fast. He showed me a couple of other structures in various stages of completion as well, including a truck shed that was tall enough to hold a full-sized cargo truck, that had been built with the help of a trucker who had never done any CMU construction before, and another that was put together by himself and a couple of 17-year-old kids. "And you know what it's like to get teenagers to complete anything," he joked. VOBB is so easy to work with, even the teens didn't balk at the project.
Why Use VOBB®?
The rest of our conversation involved a lot of give and take about statistics. Mark had already told me about VOBB® being 500 times stronger than wood framing, and then some, but now he added other information, including these points:
VOBB® is fireproof, termite proof, mold resistant, and wind resistant.
VOBB blocks (like all CMU) will not crack because of salt air or freezing conditions.
VOBB® construction is more energy efficient compared to wood because of the the thermal density.. When properly insulated, they can save you money on heating and cooling bills. (Mark cited an example of a woman in Louisiana with a 3,000 square foot home and an average electric bill of $160/month, even in the heart of summer.)
VOBB® will save you money on insurance compared to use of wood in some areas of the country. I'd asked about this specifically, and Mark looked up a few numbers for me. "I don't have information for Texas," he said, "but the state of Mississippi gives a 65% reduction in hazard insurance for VOBB® construction."
As if this wasn't impressive enough, I put Mark on the spot. "Okay," I said. "I'm sold on VOBB®being a great construction choice in places where hurricanes and tornadoes are an issue, but what about California?" I asked. "How does it stand up to earthquakes?"
"Concrete is still the material of choice for all the supports for overpasses and bridges," Mark reminded me. "But here's what you need to know. Earthquake resistance depends more on engineering than actual materials – how things are reinforced, whether they can move - that's important. It's the rigid buildings that crumble. That's why now they're building a lot of structures with silicon sheets underneath, so the whole building can float."
I nodded. I'm from California so I knew about that. "Go on?"
"Texas building requirements say that CMUs have to be able to withstand 1900 PSI (pounds/square inch) of pressure. (In california, the requirement is 2,400 PSI.) VOBB® has been tested for 2800 PSI. (In Florida, the VOBB tested to 3,010 PSI.)
VOBB® in Action
Statistics are all very well and good, but seeing VOBB® in action was also on the agenda. Mark led me through the front "yard" of his shop, where he displays yard art – fountains, cement sculptures, etc. – to draw highway traffic (it's less than a quarter of his business), showing me the VOBB® stairs into the office, the VOBB® patio ("It's great for patios," he said. "Because you can lay it out, and until you pour in the grout, you can change it."), and even a fountain area built from VOBB®.
"Here's our demo wall," he said. "We don't pour mortar in, but we bring it to hardware stores and trade shows so we can show how easy this is." What I saw was three sides of a cubical, partially constructed.
Mark showed me the grooves in the blocks, then lifted two blocks into position on top of the central span of the wall, sliding them over the rebar that was already in place. He tapped in the clips then continued with the rest of the layer. For an eight-foot-long wall it took him roughly 2 minutes to add the bricks. "What do you think?" he asked.
I told him the truth, that VOBB® construction seemed so easy, I'd be willing to try it for a personal project. "Each block weighs about 30 pounds," he told me. "But if one person lays the bricks and the other taps the clips in, you can do a wall really quickly." He showed me, then, how one would add a window, and how you can reinforce the window with rebar laid inside the bricks, how easy it was to change your mind about the size of a window or door. "Until the mortar is poured," he reminded me, "everything is flexible."
We returned to his office then, and I asked my last question.
How expensive is VOBB®?
Rather than merely throw out numbers, he gave me the instructions for a project - a 12x20 foot garage or shed – and priced it out for me. Based on a price of $1.10 / each for 18" blocks, and $0.90 / each for 12" blocks (VOBB® comes in 18", 12" and 6" sizes), with pricing for the necessary clips, cement mortar and rebar, the total cost for such a structure would be under $2500, and it's a project a couple, or a father and son, could do over several weekends with minimal physical strain. "It gets better," Mark said. "If you put the right roof and right door on this, you've got a legal storm shelter that's above ground. Wouldn't you rather sit inside a solid cement structure than hide in a storm cellar?" (NOTE: Prices depend on the location due to the local cost of freight,materials, labor, etc.)
I agreed that I would, that anyone would, and thanked Mark for his time. He gave me a pile of articles about VOBB projects, and the history of the company (it was inspired by a visit to Brazil, where the founder realized that people in the poorest parts of the world build resilient houses from cement, and decided to bring that technology to the United States), and reminded me that drywall and stucco could both be applied directly to the brick – VOBB buildings can be pretty – and then he made the comment that completely sold me on VOBB:
"It made me a contractor," he said. "I always made concrete blocks, but I didn't ever really use them, until VOBB®. Once I saw how easy it was to use, I started looking for ways to use it."
There isn't a better endorsement than that, so consider: when you build your next home, or remodel your existing one, do you want to use termite food and fire fuel, or do you want to build a home that will reduce your utility bills and weather any storm? If the latter option appeals to you, choose VOBB®
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