Meet Gablok, a Belgium tech startup that is revolutionizing home construction with insulated building blocks for a self-build house project

With the rising cost of new homes and increasing awareness to build environmentally friendly homes, a Belgium-based startup is simplifying home construction and offering a simple and efficient kit house system. Gablok is a Belgian company specializing in insulated formwork blocks for self-build house projects.

The Gablok concept is a series of insulated blocks, a customized floor system as well as insulated beams and lintels that will allow building the exterior and interior walls of a wooden house. The system has been validated by design offices in terms of stability, acoustics, and energy performance.

Founded in 2019, Gablok sells a revolutionary construction method using an insulated wooden frame. In 2018, Gabriel Lakatos has patented a wooden home kit with the objective of simplifying construction and offering a simple and efficient way to build a house by yourself.

In his early childhood, Gabriel was a fan of interlocking and construction games. He worked in the field of traditional construction for 25 years and developed an insulated wooden stacking block. After many months of research and testing, the home self-construction system was validated by engineering offices specialized in structural analysis, energy efficiency, and acoustic performance.

What makes the Gablok concept is its insulated blocks, a customized floor system as well as insulated beams and lintels that will allow you to build the exterior and interior walls of your wooden house (self-construction structure). These items (detailed below) are required to assemble the shell of the isolated frame of your future construction. These are delivered directly to you on the construction site with your installation plan. This process makes it possible, among other things, to avoid the excess waste associated with on-site processing.

After assembling the insulated formworks, all you have left is the construction of the roof (framework + roofing) and the exterior finishing of your home with the finish of your choice (plasters, bricks, cladding, etc). Inside your self-construction, you will start with the execution of various special techniques of your choice (thanks to the space left between the rafters) and then move on to the finishing (OSB + plasterboard, etc). Assembling the system is extremely fast and does not require any drying time.

Below is a time-lapse of quick house assembly with Gablok insulated building blocks.