Merging the understanding of concrete masonry production and the work practices of skilled masons, Jonathan Jones of Tifton, Georgia, has developed a plastic spacer concept to enable concrete masonry units to be installed by less skilled construction workers. Concrete Block Spacer couples together a prepared concrete masonry unit with a plastic molded part that aligns each block within the wall plane, creates the mortar joint space, and transfers the weight of units to those below.
Jonathan is a co-owner, with his brother Jeremy of Double A Concrete Products and Jones Construction Company, both located in rural south Georgia. With an understanding of how concrete masonry units are put into place and the cost drivers being predominately labor driven, Jonathan pursued how to simply take advantage of the face shell alignment of concrete masonry wall systems with the use of plastic spacers as commonly seen in floor tile installation.
The plastic spacer contains a planar member and ‘seat’ for the concrete block to ‘sit down’ on those below while using the planar member to align the wall. The planar member recesses into a ‘saw joint’ within the face shell. The ‘saw joint’ essentially creates an internal string line for the units to align themselves with one another. The company is designing an in-line concrete block saw that will prepare the units prior to cubing after being produced by the Double A Concrete’s Dynapac® block machine.
The Concrete Block Spacer System was granted U.S. Patent No. 9,086,268 for this method and currently is pursuing international patent rights in several countries. The product concept was recognized as the Most Innovative Masonry Product at World of Concrete 2016. Later that year the product attracted a lot of attention in the Besser stand at Bauma 2016. Contractor feedback at the trade shows has been strong with the international show yielding the word ‘simple’ in many languages. In February of 2017, Jonathan presented the Concrete Block Spacer during the Product Design and Creative Concepts Forum at the National Concrete Masonry Association Annual Meeting.
If you are interested in following the product development of the Concrete Block Spacer System (www.concreteblockspacer.com), please contact Jonathan Jones at 229.382.6300 or jon@concreteblockspacer.com.
