If it was up to Tommy Benasco, Slidell would become the center of eco-friendly house construction for the South.

He is hoping that his new company, Gulf Coast ThermoBlock, will be a means to that end.

A former Slidell police officer, Benasco got into home construction several years ago and started Paradise Homes. While building houses, Benasco specialized in ICF technology, or using insulating concrete forms to build houses. He found out about an inventor in Arizona who had patented a type of ICF construction using blocks of hollow polyurethane that were filled with concrete. This was the thermo block. The inventor had run out of money to distribute the blocks, and the machinery sat under tarps in Arizona, until Benasco heard about the process.

Owner of Gulf Coast ThermoBlock, Tommy Benasco stands in front of an unfinished wall of the thermo blocks on the second floor of his new facilities in Slidell. Wallboard will be put on the blocks before the room is turned into a training center for area contractors (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

He bought the manufacturing process and decided to build a production facility just north of Slidell of Brown’s Village Road.

Today, Benasco has built 25 houses using the thermo blocks with several more under construction, and he sees a big future for the construction industry, himself and the economy of Slidell.

The thermo blocks are interlocking and can be put together like building blocks.

“It’s like a big Lego set,” Benasco said. Once the block are set in place, rebar and concrete are poured into the blocks along with conduits for electrical wiring and plumbing. The walls are then attached to the roof, and according to Benasco, the resulting house is termite-proof, energy efficient, hurricane and flood proof and ecologically friendly, because no wood is used in the construction.

Because of the polyurethane, the walls of the thermo block house have one of the highest “R” values on the market. A high “R” value means that very little heat escapes in the winter and very little cool gets out in the summer. The walls of the house can withstand winds up to 200 mph. The thick walls also reduce outside noise, and the lack of wood makes it fire resistant.

If there is a down side to thermo block construction, it may be the cost. Benasco admits that construction is about 5 percent more than regular wood frame homes. But in the end that extra cost is paid back in energy savings and insurance savings.

“Insurance companies like these houses, and homeowners can get up to a 25 percent discount,” Benasco said.

He is so confident of the thermo blocks, he has built his offices and production facility using them.

Gulf Coast ThermoBlock has also become the exclusive distributor of the system for the Gulf South from Texas to Florida. His facility can pour thermo block mold right here in Slidell. Benasco said his facility can crank out enough thermo blocks in one day to build an entire house.

He brought the process to Slidell two years before Katrina. He built two homes in Oak Harbor using thermo blocks, and they were still standing after the hurricane left. He built a thermo block house in Olde Towne and donated it to Habitat for Humanity. The organization was so impressed with the process he thinks Habitat for Humanity is looking at going nationwide with the process.

“They were real impressed with how easy it is to put up,” Benasco said.

But like all new things, Benasco is facing another hurdle, and that is getting more contractors on board. Though using the thermo blocks is fairly easy, contractors need to be trained on the process. Benasco is using the second floor of his new building as a school to train contractors.

“Once they see how easy it is, and its benefits, they will come on board,” Bonasco said.

Currently, Gulf Coast ThermoBlock employs 30 people from the area, but as his company expands into areas like the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, Benasco plans on hiring more people.

There will be a grand opening for Gulf Coast ThermoBlock at 11 a.m. July 15 at the new headquarters at 573 J.F. Smith Ave. To learn more about thermo blocks, log on to www.thermoblock.com.