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Why Should My New Home Be A Sip
Panel Home?
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WHAT ARE SIPS?
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
EXPERIENCE
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- Buyer Benefits: Two
years ago, Norm Abrams of This Old House stated on TV and
wrote in articles that he wouldn't build his own house any other way
than with SIPs.
- Builder Benefits:
SIPs can be a little intimidating to builders who haven't used them.
But experienced SIP contractors sing their praises. Many have switched
exclusively to panels, citing the following reasons for their
decisions.
SIP Benefits for Buyers
- Extremely strong structure. There is considerable
evidence that homes with SIP wall and ceiling panels have survived
natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, straight-line winds and
earthquakes better than traditional stick-framed homes right next
door.
- Lower energy bills. Discounting the "human
factor"-thermostat settings and so forth-a number of side-by-side
tests show that between 15% and 40% less energy should be needed to
heat and cool a home with SIP wall and ceiling panels. In tests by Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, SIP walls outperform fiberglass walls by
over 50%.
- Improved comfort. Thanks to extra R-values and
tight construction, the wall and ceiling surfaces in a SIP home will
stay warmer than in stick-framed homes. The warmer those surfaces are,
the more comfortable the home is.
- "Freeze proof." What happens if the power goes
down? During the late 1990s, several New England SIP homes survived
over a week without power or a wood stove and never came close to
freezing.
- Indoor Air Quality. While there is no guarantee
here, most homes built with SIPs are tight enough that builders can't
ignore upgrading mechanical ventilation compared to that found in a
standard home. In many studies in North American housing, the best
indoor air quality is found in homes that are tight and equipped with
upgraded mechanical ventilation.
- Green building product. On a life-cycle basis, a
more energy-efficient house built with SIPs will be less damaging to
the environment, in terms of overall resource consumption. Much less
dimensional lumber is used in a SIP home than in a traditional framed
structure.
- Interactive systems benefits: For example, a more
energy-efficient home may cost slightly more to build but in turn can
be heated and cooled with smaller equipment that costs less to
install.
SIP Benefits for Builders
- Speed of construction. You can order the panels
with all pre-cutting performed in a factory. They show up on the
jobsite all pre-numbered, ready for assembly corresponding to numbers
laid out on a set of shop drawings. On most jobs you should be out of
the weather and dried in sooner. Time is money.
- Fewer framers. A crew can consist of one lead
framer assisted by minimally skilled helpers. Whenever a job involves
craning panels up to frame a roof, it helps to have two people
familiar with panels: one on the roof and one on the ground.
- Shell installation option. If you're having a
tough time locating skilled carpenters, a growing number of
manufacturers have regular crews who will install a shell on your
foundation for you to finish.
- Rigid frame. It's easy bracing SIP walls. In
fact, once you have two corner panels up, you can lean a ladder
against the panels when needed.
- Less jobsite waste. If you've ordered a set of panels with all
rough openings for windows and doors pre-cut at the factory, the only
true waste you'll have is taking a few cases of empty tubes of
adhesive caulk containers to the dump. And the factory can efficiently
collect and recycle their cut-outs much more effectively than you can
at the job site.
- Less theft. While 2x4s and 2x6s are prone to
"walking off" unsecured job sites, panels are too specific to the
site's building system to be worth hauling off somewhere else.
- Cost competitive. While most builders say they
pay a little more for SIPs than for the comparable framing and
insulation package in a stick-built home, as a group they believe the
benefits are worth the costs. The amount extra they pay varies; while
a few say it costs them an extra $1 per square foot of finished floor
area, the amount may be higher when roof panels are used. However,
when roof panels enclose extra living space in a loft, the price per
square foot is surprisingly competitive. If at the design stage you
optimize a structure to use panels, the most experienced SIP builders
then say a house framed with SIPs should cost about the same as a
house framed with comparably sized dimensional lumber, and maybe even
a little less.
- Easier to hang drywall. There is solid backing
for all drywall against exterior walls, which means there is less
cutting, faster attachment and less waste material.
- Fewer framing callbacks. Wall panels go in plumb,
square and straight. Once in place, a SIP won't warp, twist or check.
- Increased referrals. A fair number of small
builders report their marketing efforts have decreased ever since they
started using SIP building systems.
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