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Ernest Maier Block, located in Maryland, runs 12″ block using Besser equipment for a Chinese business group from Harbin, China. The Chinese group is interested in securing the license for Omni Block in the growing Harbin market. The group was introduced to Omni Block at the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas and decided to immediately fly to Washington, DC and travel to Maryland to see the 12″ Omni Block manufactured. Harbin’s climatic situation only allows for construction for about 6 months a year, beginning in April. The Chinese group is on fast track to produce Omni Block this year, the Chinese year of the Dragon.

SIMPATICO HOMES HOSTS ITS FIRST OPEN HOUSE EVENT THE PROTOTYPE HOME COMES ONLINE The innovative Prototype Home is an extremely green and modern, factory-built residence—the first in our extensive range of prefab homes designed by architect Robert Swatt. The design included exposed Omni Block.

Omni Block will be exhibiting in Las Vegas at the World of Concrete January 24 -27 in booth N519 (which we will be sharing with Besser). Please join us as we unveil our “Sample Wall” that shows all of the various stages of construction. Also joining us in our booth will be Tom Norris, architect, builder, and widely recognized green building specialist www.norrisarchitects.com. See you there!!! Please contact us at 877-711-6664 to schedule an appointment at the show.

Press Release For Immediate Release 6 January 2012 Contact: Terri Rondeau, Director, Corporate Advertising Besser Company Office: 989.354.1040 ı Mobile: 989.906.1448 E-mail: trondeau@besser.com Besser Company Named Exclusive Mold Manufacturer for Omni Block Besser Company has been named the exclusive mold manufacturer for Omni Block. Omni Block president Denny Miller commented, “We selected Besser for many reasons: longstanding industry leadership and support, engineering prowess, manufacturing excellence and their global network of sales and service staff are well versed in the concrete products industry.” At its core, Omni Block is a patented insulated cementitious masonry unit (CMU) wall system which combines the benefits of indigenous aggregates, Expanded Polystyrene, thermal lag (the delay, disruption and redirection of heat flow), exposed thermal mass (the absorption of heat), and air tightness resulting in a thermally efficient wall system. This is consistent with well-known and widely accepted thermal performance concepts. Omni Block delivers a host of benefits that are sought out by the most demanding building professionals of today. Omni Block is an insulated “stand-alone” structural wall system. It does not require furring strips, additional insulation, or sheetrock to complete the wall, even though numerous finishes may be added for aesthetic purposes only. Hundreds projects have…

Omni Block was utilized for 13 low-income homes on the Gila Indian Reservation located southeast of Phoenix, Arizona. The 13 homes were completed in approximately 3 months, in record time, and under budget. The homes averaged 1100 square feet livable. A point worth noting, the mason contractor had never laid Omni Block previously to this project. Denny Miller had agreed to be at the job site when the first block was to be laid. He was notified when to be at the job site but when he showed up at the designated time, practically half of one of the first home was up 4 feet. This is worth noting because it is proof that the “learning curve” is negligible. Mr. Miller also reported that he has yet to hear from the general contractor on the project. This too indicates the ease of construction when using Omni Block.

There is now Omni Block inventory on the east coast. Last week, Ernest Maier, located in Maryland ran Omni Block for an upcoming project but purposely ran over in order to have inventory on hand. Brendan Quinn, owner of Ernest Maier was very pleased at how the new Besser mold ran on his machine. “The lightweight or “Elite” design block broke at 1,500 psi after 7 days which means that they will easily meet 1,900 minimum psi from ASTM C-90 at 28 days,” commented Mr. Quinn. He then added, “Given the equivalent thickness of the units and the lightweight mix design, I expect a fire rating in excess of 3 hours, which will be fantastic.” Mr. Quinn explained in an email to Omni Block, “Just as good as those results are, so are our test batches with the UL mix design. The 8″ Omni Block weighs only 25 lbs. At 28 days, we will test whether you can use a regular hammer and nail in furring strips. If so, we have a real winner for residential applications for both single family and multi-family. There will be shrinkage concerns on the units, but the idea that you can nail in furring…

Quest Energy Report Quest Energy Group performed an energy analysis via computer modeling and simulation comparing Omni Block’s 8″ insulated concrete block to that of 12″ standard concrete block. The buildings used in the study were “big box” buildings in two climatic areas, Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC. The study was performed at the request of a potential Omni Block distributor in North Carolina. As illustrated, the use of Omni Block does not help in reducing energy costs for lighting, equipment, ventilator, or hot water, but it reduced the annual heating and cooling costs in Richmond from $12,676 down to $3,984 (68%) and from $10,441 down to $3,261 (68%) in Charlotte. As energy costs increase, the savings are only going to increase. Also worth noting, Omni Block’s first cost to construct versus 12″ standard block is about a $3 per wall square savings. A 100,000 square foot building has about 55,000 square feet of wall area which would yield a first cost construction savings of $165,000!