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Energy prices and average temperature continue to climb in Ohio, with no sign of decline.
That combination disadvantages homeowners, who often run air-conditioning longer these days. Omni Block is a potential solution, one that is being employed in a Mansfield home.
Omni Block is a masonry unit, exclusively owned and manufactured in Ohio by Cement Products Inc. since 2017. Stigma surrounding masonry kept the unit from being used in Ohio homes until recently.
Rising energy costs, along with a change to Ohio’s energy code, have created the perfect storm for Omni Block. The storm has led Cement Products Inc. to build Ohio’s first home using the unit in Mansfield.
“Ohio is governed by the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), and that changed in the fall of 2024,” said Mike Cochenour, a salesman at Cement Products Inc. “What that does is it dictates what the R-value – the ability of a block to resist the transfer of heat in and out – needs to be.”
When the code changed, the IECC upped the minimum R-value to 19.6. Omni Block does what other masonry units can’t, exceeding that on its own. The block features three or four layers of thermal mass and two or three layers of insulation, depending on whether it is the System 8 (R-19.6) or the System 12 (R-29.2).
Omni Block reduces energy costs by an estimated 30 percent. In some cases, up to 60 percent.
“The (homeowner) isn’t just buying energy efficiency,” Cochenour said. “They are buying lower utility costs, fire resistance, storm resistance, reduced maintenance, sound attenuation (and) durability measured in generations rather than decades.”
Omni Block still had hurdles to clear before its implementation in its first home in Ohio. Chief among those hurdles is aesthetics.
Stigma surrounding the aesthetics of a block-wall home has led to homebuyers focusing on visual upgrades. However, with rising heating, cooling and energy prices, Omni Block signals a change in philosophy.
Omni Block homes will primarily use a “stack bond,” where one block is stacked directly on another. Most homes utilize “running bonds” for their foundations, an offset stacking method.
“It’s good for a clean, almost tile-style look,” Nick Schmitz, President of Pinecrest Home of Ohio LLC, said. “Clean lines, smooth finishes.”
“There are few products that can adapt to a vast array of architectural styles, remain cost-effective and meet the ever-demanding energy code criteria like Omni Block,” the product’s website says.
Omni Block’s combination of durability, longevity and a sleek, modern aesthetic has allowed the unit to finally find its place in Ohio, almost a decade after its rights were purchased by Cement Products Inc.
However, inflation continues to put energy and other utility costs at the front of a homeowner’s mind. Omni Block’s primary goal is to lower the stress of those costs as they show no sign of stopping.
“The fact that this Omni Block home was built specifically to protect a family from rising energy costs for the next 50 or more years is what we at Cement Products Inc. want people to remember,” Cochenour said.
