Contractors and manufacturers alike emphasize the quality and energy-efficiency of structural insulated panel systems (SIPs) and say additional initial costs are offset by labor and time saved and the elimination of building site waste.

"The panels are going to add 10 to 15 percent to the framing cost,” says Donna Shirey of Shirey Construction, Seattle. "But SIPs resolve some construction issues. One is a lack of skilled labor. If you can use a nail gun and a level, you’re going to be successful in installing SIPs.” The others are speed of construction and minimal waste. Once the builders learn to work with SIPs, she says, the building progresses rapidly.

"One house will get them trained,” says Bill Wachtler, who has built two SIPs houses with Habitat for Humanity crews. "It’s easier than building with sticks,” says Wachtler, president of the Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA). Made by a variety of manufacturers at facilities throughout the country, SIPs are warranted against material faults or failures and offer airtight construction that meets or exceeds energy codes.

"My standard house is almost the highest level of Build Green,” says Scott Bergford, a Puget Sound, Wash. builder. "Washington State University says a standard [SIPs] house is 60 percent better than [a stick-built] home. In one house tested, they figured it would take 1,500 gallons of propane to heat the home for one year at $2,000 to $3,000. My house was predicted to take 700 gallons. However, the actual first year’s bill was only $700.”

Once he discovered the benefits of SIPs over stick construction, Wesley Cole of Contempo Homes, Palm Springs, Calif., made the switch.

"We’re a new builder and we just didn’t learn about SIPs fast enough,” Cole says.

"Our new architect is more familiar with green building systems. He thought SIPs was the way to go.”

Downstream benefits separate SIPs from traditional building concepts, says Premier Building System’s Rick Gelormino. SIPs homes, he says, are square, plum and true, and "to a production builder, that means time benefits added to the construction cycle.”

SIPs usage isn’t limited to housing, Wachtler says. The Seattle Post Office was remodeled with SIPs roofing, and Four Seasons Solar Products in New York builds sunrooms with SIPs floors. Montana-based R-Control reports interest from a number of businesses, including banks and small restaurants.

"The fast food chains are integrating SIPs into their store construction because they can have very tall, strong walls,” said Gelormino. "They find that SIPs are integrating well with steel studs.”

SIPs construction could become an easier choice for builders under a new national partnership. HUD launched an initiative to standardize SIP construction methods and include SIP techniques within the main body of the International Code Council’s building codes. The NAHB will manage the 12-month push with help from SIPA.

"Writing advanced SIPs methods into the building codes will remove time-consuming and costly requirements for SIPs home projects to get case-by-case approval from local building officials,” Wachtler wrote in an email to SIPA members.
The prescriptive method for SIPs encompasses popular techniques employed by suppliers and builders. Having a prescriptive plan will eliminate up to $2,000 in design fees builders currently pay, and several weeks’ delay to get the analysis completed.

SIPA expects panelized construction to increase, as has light-gauge steel framing. After prescriptive standards were established, steel frame home construction rose from 500 annually in the mid-1990s to nearly 40,000 today, Wachtler reports.

| BUILDERnews magazine | April 2005

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