I picked up my blocks yesterday for an 8X12 deck. I bought them at the Lowe's in Concord NH. They were fairly priced at $4.45 ea, which is a bargain.

I was surprised how porous the concrete was. Many blocks in the stack had corners broken off and even the best ones I hand picked were full of fleck. My concern about the porosity is when you can see stones and openings in the concrete, there is ample room for water penetration which could result in cracking during a freeze. I had expected the outside surfaces of the blocks to be smooth and solid. Maybe this is normal.

The other thing that surprised me was how shallow the slots were. The photos in the flyer and the drawings on the web seem to show deeper slots. They measure 1 1/2" deep which is probably perfectly fine, but I expected more depth.

I am excited about this project!

I just looked at the print of the blocks for the depth of the slots. They are supposed to be 1 3/4" deep. Mine are only 1 1/2" deep.

Just purchased blocks July09, they were more porous than the ones I got free from another individual who had some left over sitting around for a couple years. The newer ones had a bunch of residual concrete 'flecks' in the recesses for the 4x4 slot and 2x6 slots. Purchased at Lowes. Porosity is much worse as well. Seems like the manufacturing of these piers is getting a bit sloppy. A little attention to detail would do wonders for the appearance and integrity. The older ones look to have a much better finish and no porosity issues. Looks like the recent ones were made from a bag of Sak-krete in someone's backyard.