American Insulock mobile machine makes polyurethane blocks on-site

American Insulock Inc. (AII) has developed a mobile system to produce polyurethane (PU) insulating blocks on-site.
Burnaby, B.C.-based AII, the manufacturer and distributor of Insulock Blocks, adapted its stationary PU block-making equipment for use in either multiple lightweight trailers, single enclosed cargo trucks or full-sized freight trailers.
The use of the portable system at job sights or in remote locations can allow for faster construction, and also eliminate shipping and warehousing costs, AII said.
Because liquid PU expands approximately 40 times its volume, it can offer advantages over the more commonly used polystyrene (PS) foam for custom homes and certain public infrastructures, Bob Jamieson, president of AII, said.
For example, custom homeowners willing to invest in PU blocks can recoup their investment in just a few years through energy cost savings, he said, due to PU’s higher insulation qualities, which have an R value indicating resistance to heat flow of 38.
And for public structures such as sound walls, he added, PU is effective at absorbing sound and is strong enough to use in new sound walls and to extend existing sound walls that do not meet revised seismic requirements.