Everyone has likely experienced having posts, poles or timbers rot and fail prematurely at the ground-line.
Bend resident Ken Carhart has developed a unique and sustainable product that will maximize the service life of your treated wood products. ROTBLOC, made of 100 percent recycled rubber and plastic, is a durable barrier that protectsyour chemically treated wood products from unavoidable premature failure.
Carhart explains, “The weakest link in any fencing system is at the ground-line and through the ‘Critical Rot Zone’, which is up to seven inches deep in the soil.
It is within this ‘Critical Rot Zone’ that life (microorganisms in the soil) is at its highest concentration. It is these organisms that are responsible for breaking down matter and causing decay- it is literally their job.
“In this region of the soil, microorganisms have what they need to thrive: food (matter); moisture; oxygen; and sunlight thatwarms the soil. Allcombine to create an abundance of life – as many as 100,000,000 microorganisms – in a single handful of topsoil.
Another study indicated that there is a staggering 2500 lbs. of fungi per acre of topsoil! Fungi are the leading cause of decay.We do our best to slow down thenatural process of decay through the treating process, but these organisms will forever consider your post a food source and will eventually find a flaw that they can exploit (some posts succumb, sooner than others).
“ROTBLOCis engineered to shield your posts most vulnerable area from this constant abuse,thereby extending their service life. Studies indicate ROTBLOC will eliminate premature failures and increase the service life of the entire fencing system by a minimum of 150 percent.”
ROTBLOC is designed to be easy to use, cost-efficient, as well as highly effective for the business owner or the Do-it-Yourselfer. Application of ROTBLOC takes about 60 seconds per post. The product is simply custom cut to fit, wrapped around the wood, and secured with exterior grade nails, staples or Zip-Ties. A 20-foot roll of ROTBLOC costs about $35. One roll can service 17 four inch posts,equal to 160 lineal feet of fencing.
This investment is consistently around 1 percent of your project costs.Carhart continues, “ROTBLOCcan be custom cut and wrapped to any square or round pole -even retro-fitted to your established job site. ROTBLOCalso works well with concrete installations; because it is not porous,it will better protect wood set in concrete. It has also been engineered to withstand the abuse of a post-pounder in most regions (certain considerations apply). Alternatively, it can be used as a liner for raised garden beds.”
Customers and Organizations alike applaud ROTBLOC for its adaptive design, durable engineering, GREEN built technology, and US manufacturing. Its thoughtful design elements provide a simple, flexible, fast and single-handed solution to a longstanding problem. Garrett Rupp, of Rupp Family Builders, says, “When we introduced ROTBLOC into our deck and fence installations, we knew that we were literally adding value, protecting our client’s investment, and maximizing the service-life of all of the work that we put into each installation.”
ROTBLOC has been developed by Carhart on the heels of three decades of barrier research. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon’sDepartment of Landscape Architecture and has consulted with Jeff Morrell from Oregon State University Wood Science and Engineering.
The result of Carhart’s research and product development is a sustainable way to reduce rot damage without adding stronger chemicals to our environment. Patience and persistence has resulted in the creation of ROTBLOC. ROTBLOC LLC was recently nominated for Small Business Loan of the Year by Craft3, a nonprofit small business lender.
ROTBLOC is manufactured in the mid-western United States and made completely from recycled waste materials. Carhart’s vision is to produce ROTBLOC regionally in order to utilize local resources.
