Anyone built a home with SIPS ?

[Dianol]

DH and I are planning on building retirement home on our few acres of heaven next year. We have our plans already, and are getting ready to talk to different contractors and start getting bids. We are investigating building the home using SIPS panels. (Structural Insulated Panels)

These panels are made of 3.5" of foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of OSB. They build them to fit your plans, and they do the cutouts for windows, doors, etc. Supposed to take 30% less time to build a house, and you can reduce your air condition/heating unit by half. We were looking at a 3.5 ton heat pump, and they tell us we will need no more than a 2 ton for our 2000 sq ft heated home.

We keep looking for the downside. I understand they had some problems in Alaska with roof panels rotting out. Not sure what the issues were, but there is big difference between alaska and central louisiana.

Has anyone out there had any experience with this building style?

Thanks

Dianne

[Windy in Kansas]

I haven't built with SIPs but have done a lot of reading and studying about using them. I'm pretty well convinced that they are the way to go.

I would suggest that you ask about any termite problems with the particular brand of SIPs that you select to use. I do understand that at least a few companies have had problems in the past from damage done by them.

I'm looking at using R-Control products by Contour since there is a factory about 30 miles from where I live. http://www.r-control.com/

Since where I live has considerably more heating/energy requirements than where you are located I'm planning on using thicker panels if and when I proceed. I'm aiming toward a net zero energy house so will probably use the 11½ inch panels--at least for the roof. I also plan on using the thinner SIPs for interior walls to avoid sound transmittance between rooms.

[tiogacounty]

I've done a small ranch house in SD. for Habitat for Humanity. It can be a great system. In your climate I would be seriously concerned about termites thought. Termites can, and have, destroyed homes that were insulated with foam.

[kmaproperties]

I've seen it done and loved it, also this old house did one and it was in new england area which is very tough with codes.

[painterswife]

We built with SIPs and have lived in the home for five years now.

We will use them again. I turned the heat off on Friday(hopefully for the summer) It still has not got warmer than 60 and inthe 20s at night. The inside stays between 66 at night to 70 during the day just with the heat from the sun.

Jill

[chicken]

My DH used to work for a lumber yard that made SIP's. He said it is the only way to go. We made a dog house out of one and they love it What's not to like? warm in winter, cool in summer, walls ready to drywall. If anything destroys this old 1883 farmhouse that's the way we'll rebuild our bungalow.

[freeinalaska]

I watched my neighbor build his new house out of SIPs. I have to say I was impressed. The project came together in record time. As for the roof rotting out in Alaska.... I can't see why if the roofing was properly installed.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

My husband is in the process of building a 100,000 square foot commercial building with SIPS. I will have him check this thread to tell you what he knows.

[BackwoodsIdaho]

Send me a private message. The building Lisa refers to is in Sandpoint, ID [for those of you in the area it fronts US95 South thru Sandpoint] and is a 100K sq. ft three story commercial building for which I am the construction manager. The SIPS are on the roof and are 10" R30 product. We are also using them on specific interior portions of the building. Be glad to help you out - we spent a ton of time researching SIPS.

[Obser]

It seems as though SIPs can be very good or very bad (with little between). We were involved in constructing a home that was in the bad category. Nothing fit properly, gaps were filled in with expanding foam from a can, electrical outlet cut-outs were on the outside of walls, the main tool used in assembly was a sledgehammer.

The concept is great -- exectution is the question -- cost can also be a consideration.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

"We were looking at a 3.5 ton heat pump, and they tell us we will need no more than a 2 ton for our 2000 sq ft heated home."

be careful with this... Lots of your effective heating and cooling depends directly on your ability to MOVE AIR. If you downsize the tonnage, don't downsize the air handling system - you still need to be able to push air as far as necessary and you need to be able to pull the return air back from where necessary. Too small an air handling system gets you problems with moisture and mold - especially in the Gulf area.

[tiogacounty]

Originally Posted by Obser

It seems as though SIPs can be very good or very bad (with little between). We were involved in constructing a home that was in the bad category. Nothing fit properly, gaps were filled in with expanding foam from a can, electrical outlet cut-outs were on the outside of walls, the main tool used in assembly was a sledgehammer.

The concept is great -- exectution is the question -- cost can also be a consideration.

I could see how this could be an issue. The one I worked on was fabricated at a fairly large facility in western MN. and the building process was closer to assembling a piece of decent furniture, than stick framing a building. Everything was exceptionally well fabricated and numbered, and the assembly process was nearly perfect. That said I have seen SIPs that were built by a "manufacturer" that had little but a bucket of glue, a stack of material, and chains and chainbinders for a press, so there are extremes in the industry.

[texican]

I think sips are a great idea... if you have more money than time and don't mind risking having the house fall down. If you are building it yourself, I'd recommend going with solid wood. I've seen some nasty problems that cost my clients bookoodles of money, all because someone saved 15% by buying osb instead of plywood. If osb gets wet, it buckles and gets wavy and loses it's structural integrity. I have read where the new osb is different. I'll gamble with your home, but not mine. If a client wants anything done with osb, I tell them my standard golden guarantee (fix whatever I do) isn't included.

I've never built a home with sips, but I've repaired dozens of homes with osb.

Do they make sips with 5/8 or 3/4 plywood? If so, that'd be great.

SIPS are structural...if there's a moisture problem, the osb will fail. Not sure yet? Get a sheet from HD/Lowes, wet it down for a while, esp. on the ends where there's raw edges, and see how well it lasts.

You probably will save money building with sips. Of course you can save even more money by buying a double wide... the newer ones are somewhat better than the throwaway models for the mass market. If someone gave me a 50 year guarantee (someone BIG... not someone that's going to go out of business in a few weeks) I might consider sips.

Saying that, the multimillion dollar homes next door use osb everywhere...walls, floors, & roofs.

[FrankTheTank]

Texican... You do have to wonder what all these mcmansion OSB boxes will look like in 50 or a hundred years...with the vinyl siding (i've got it ) and fake wood floors. I think the key is keeping out moisture. If that is done, then you probably won't have problems. Being down in the bayou, i'd be a little leery.

[tiogacounty]

Texican, Moisture is what it is, it doesn't discriminate. Yea, OSB will fail first, but so what? If the building is poorly designed, built or maintained and moisture penetrates the exterior, it's an issue no matter what's behind the surface. I replaced the entire front wall of a two story house because the windows leaked and allowed small amounts of water to continually wet the wall cavity. All the PLYWOOD and a lot of structural framing failed in seven years. The better OSB you are refering to is called ADVANTECH and it is far superior to any construction grade of plywood. Zero defects, voids, etc and zero swelling or rot. The world changes. Builders can't spend the money for five ply fir, altough it is obviously superior for wall and roof sheathing. I would much rather have OSB than some of the three ply, ungraded, yellow pine trash that a lot of places have the heuvos to try to sell as plywood. I understand where your coming from, but the key is building something that doesn't allow water to penetrate, so it shouldn't matter if it's sheathed in cardboard or OSB.

[texican]

That's why I'm building out of concrete and stone. Wet/Schmet...won't bother stone... I love those termite commercials where the folks have complete homes made out of concrete...including furniture... Of course I'm gonna have lots of wood!