Materials Monday – Structural Insulating Panels
Insulspan – Structural Insulating Panels (SIPs)
Structural Insulating Panels consist of a layer of expanded polystyrene foam insluation laminated between two layers of oriented strand board. When assembled properly they make a house virtually airtight. When compared to stud construction SIPs have way fewer paths for heat to escape or enter your home.
We have used SIPs on dozens of houses, including some designs that have been repeated many times. Our houses typically use 40 – 65% less energy for heating and cooling.
One cool feature of working with a group like Great Lakes Insulspan is that they can turn your design (or any design) into a flat pack pre-fab structure. When the house arrives at the jobsite the crane used to offload the truck can be used to install the panels in just a few days.
The other feature that I particularly like is the precision inherent in a pre-cut building. The computer guided cutters at the factory are accurate to 1/16th of an inch or better, which is a much tighter standard than used in common residential construction.
One caveat: The foundation that you place a SIP house on needs to be built more accurately than what concrete contractors are accustomed to.
Check Out: Insulspan
