<div dir="auto">Regular cement blocks absorb water, freeze thaw cycle destroys them.<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Paving blocks are made with silica fume, denser than cement,dont absorb water, don&#39;t suffer freeze thaw damage. They are designed for  walkways and driveways.</div><div dir="auto">There are cement looking pavers , 12x12 x 2&quot; ,also made with fume.</div><div dir="auto">Any block plant should be able to make balast blocks to the needed specs. Silica fume is a waste product of coal combustion </div><div dir="auto">..ie cheap, but effective. </div><div dir="auto">Ken schaal </div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jun 30, 2018 6:29 PM, &quot;cwarfel&quot; &lt;<a href="mailto:cwarfel@entech-engineering.com">cwarfel@entech-engineering.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
  
    
  
  <div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <p><font face="Verdana">I am <font face="Verdana">pretty sure it is
          the freeze<font face="Verdana">-tha<font face="Verdana">w <font face="Verdana">cycle that the blocks are exposed to. I
                have inspected hundreds of sys<font face="Verdana">tem
                  in the Nor<font face="Verdana">theas<font face="Verdana">t and this is a recurring<font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"> problem. It
                          has to b<font face="Verdana">e part of the
                            maintenance protocols or there will be
                            insufficient we<font face="Verdana">i<font face="Verdana">ght to resist the<font face="Verdana"> wind uplift forces.  C<font face="Verdana">hris</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><br>
    </p><div class="elided-text">
    <br>
    <div class="m_-6891022373104447490moz-cite-prefix">On 6/30/2018 6:17 PM, Chris Schaefer
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite">
      <div dir="ltr">Kirk,
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>Had the same thing happen to me on a commercial ballasted
          system installed back in 2004. Had to be moved around to allow
          installation of a new roof system. Replaced all the ballast in
          2017. I&#39;m located in Western NY, thus the same weather you
          see. The blocks were on a stainless steel pan of which the
          array was attached to. I&#39;ve plenty of ideas as to why they
          broke down but no real evidence. I expect it to happen again.
          Does make me wonder about the new ballast systems that still
          call out for the blocks as ballast. Perhaps poly sand bags?</div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>Christopher</div>
      </div>
      <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
        <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 4:20 PM, Kirk
          Herander <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:vtsolar@icloud.com" target="_blank">vtsolar@icloud.com</a>&gt;</span>
          wrote:<br>
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
            <div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US">
              <div class="m_-6891022373104447490m_-3312019715009331861WordSection1">
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">All,</span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">I
                    have a 6 year old ballasted roof system in which
                    about 50% of the solid cap blocks(16\u201dL x 8\u201dw x 4\u201dD)
                    are cracked and crumbing, some are close to rubble.
                    I assume it was a bad batch, but has anyone seen
                    this before? What might be the preventive remedy in
                    the future? A coating of some sort?</span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Kirk
                      Herander</span></b></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Owner|Principal,
                      VT Solar, LLC </span></b></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Celebrating our 27<sup>th</sup>
                        Anniversary 1991-2018</span></i></b></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://www.vermontsolarnow.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">www.vermontsolarnow.com</span></a></span></b></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">dba
                    Vermont Solar Engineering</span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NABCEP<sup>TM 
                    </sup>2003 Inaugural Certificant</span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">VT
                    RE Incentive Program Partner</span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">802.863.1202</span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></p>
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                    <p style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Chris Schaefer\u2019s<br>
                        </font></span><a href="http:www.solarandwindfx.com" style="font-size:12.8px" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.solarandwindfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Solar-Wind-FX-Logo.png" style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt" height="40" width="200"></a><br>
                      <i><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)"><span style="font-size:9pt">Tel/Fax
                            585-229-2083 or Cell 585-748-1870 </span><span style="font-size:12px"><br>
                          </span></span></i><i style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:10pt"><font color="#1f497d"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">5115
                              South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York
                              14424<br>
                            </font></font></span></i><i style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:#1f497d"><a href="http://www.solarandwindfx.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">www.solarandwindfx.com</span></a>
                          ~ E-mail: <span style="color:blue"><a href="mailto:chris@solarandwindfx.com" target="_blank">chris@solarandwindfx.com</a></span></span></i></p>
                    <p style="text-align:center"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:#1f497d"><img src="http://solarandwindfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/certs.jpg" height="56" width="200"><br>
                        </span></i></p>
                    <p style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black">Thomas
                        Jefferson,
                        the author of our great Constitution, once said,
                        &quot;democracy&quot; will
                        cease to exist when you take away from those who
                        are willing to work and give
                        to those who would not.&quot;</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:#1f497d"></span></p>
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    </div><font color="#888888"><div class="m_-6891022373104447490moz-signature">-- <br>
      
      <div class="m_-6891022373104447490moz-signature"><br>
        <div class="m_-6891022373104447490moz-signature">
          
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                <div class="m_-6891022373104447490moz-signature">
                  <div class="m_-6891022373104447490moz-signature">
                    
                    <font size="-1">         Christopher Warfel, PE<br>
                             ENTECH Engineering, Inc.<br>
                      PO Box 871, Block Island, RI 02807<br>
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