$$$$$ The Cost Equation Clarified $$$$$

The question that came up almost immediately when I first started looking into SIPs was: Why do they cost so much?

The answer I kept getting was that you have to compare apples to apples. That wasn’t good enough for me so I would press the issue but couldn’t get very far. Frustratingly they didn’t want to come out and talk directly about money . They (I’m using  “they” to protect my sources) would say you can’t compare SIPs to stud framed walls.Today Al Cobb was able to explain the cost equation to me in terms that are simple to understand.

If you want to build a structure that has very low insulation demands, say an outhouse in Arizona, it is much cheaper to build it with stud framing. If you build it with SIPs it will be more insulation than you can use.

Outhouse

If, on the other hand, your energy efficiency standard is very high, say a heated privy at the North Pole, you may never be able to achieve a level of acceptable comfort with studs stuffed with all the batt insulation you can find. However, if you build it with SIPs, the inherent insulated value would keep your toes and tush so toasty you could read the entire New York Times in comfort.

North Pole Put simply, SIPs are the most cost effective way to achieve a premium insulated structure. I had promised notes on Best Practices and Learning from Our Mistakes but today those subjects were covered in a business overview. I’m going to hold off for now. Al Cobb promised me that he will go over some juicy worst case scenarios before the class is finished.

Some pictures of class.

Me after a day in class.  

Note on this blog: I’ve embedded links to the site but they are not as visible as I would like. If you look carefully the words in blue are hot links.

SIP School Gets Real

This is my last cramming session before things get real.

And like in college, I have to deal with some distractions. 

But enough of distractions. The itinerary for the first day is…

The points that sound interesting are the points of Best Practices and Learning from Our Mistakes. I expect to have good notes on these topics.These two topics are of special interest to me because in my casual conversations with builders I have been surprised to hear how many of them expect to build with SIPs, if not in their next project, in a project coming up soon.

Al Cobb told me that he thinks the biggest thing holding back the SIP industry is a lack of trained installers. I think that says a lot about the state of the home building industry. Things are changing fast. Not many of the people I have talked to are asking what’s wrong with traditional stud framing. Most people are asking how do we make building better and keep up with the mandates of a changing world.

Here’s a note on my bias: I am not a proponent of a specific building system, but I am a proponent of using the best methods and practices available to us. As the posts follow I will hedge them in advance. The point of this exercise is to get inside the SIP building method. It’s important to keep a critical perspective but as I consider the pros and cons of SIPs it’s just as critical for me to take a deep dive; to take off my flotation devices so to speak. It’s up to you all to keep me honest. I welcome the diversity of points of view. If you have questions about what I post or disagree with what I am saying, post a comment.

I’ll leave it at that and see you all tomorrow.

SIPs raise big questions

Building with SIPs raises a whole host of questions; a never ending stream of what ifs, what abouts, and I never thought of thats.

I bat these questions around in conversations and online and make lists of questions for the industry experts. I’ll get to these questions…

But first I digress.       

 

My grandfather was an ironworker. He worked the day he died and I never met him. My father was a rivet catcher until he said FU to that and never looked back. More power to him and my growing up sheltered. I huffed dust as a framing and finish carpenter until I laid down my own nail gun and started banging away at a keyboard. I look back every day and love every minute of it. What I had and what I have.

              

It works for me because I still have the connection to shelter. Our shelters evolve with us and we evolve into them. For most of us, our shelter is our single biggest investment and asset. Also for most of us, it’s our single  biggest consumptive item. It’s our biggest black mark on the earth.

And it’s the place we can make the biggest positive impact. 

What are SIPs and what do Frank Lloyd Wright and Alden B. Dow have to do with them?

SIPs are basically big Oreo cookies with foam on the inside and OSB on the outside. Now that I’m thinking about it, I think a SIP is more like an ice cream sandwich. They are structural so they don’t have stud framing and they go up FAST; days as opposed to weeks and weeks to months.

To the non-initiated (which I am) building with SIPs raises tons of questions. But let me get to the flash and flame first: Frank Lloyd Wright.

–Some of the earliest examples of sandwich-panel technology can be found in the Usonian Houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright– Michael Morley, Building with SIPs.

OK so who invented them? According to SIPA  (Structural Insulated Panel Association) SIPs were invented by engineers at the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wisconsin, in the mid 1930’s. But SIPs may never have made any news if it weren’t for a student of Frank Lloyd Wright; Alden B. Dow  (son of Dow Chemical founder). Dow started experimenting with insulted panels in the 1950s and built the first Styrofoam houses in Midland, MI, in 1951. While the history is compelling, I am really interested in the uses that people are coming up with today.

Stronger Lighter Faster SIPs are coming. Are you ready?

Am I ready? This is the question I asked myself when I got this assignment.

Immediately I knew I was going to need a better grasp of the subject than I could get by simply visiting a job site and taking a few pictures. So I decided to attend a SIPs installation certification course . I signed up a month ago and had anticipated putting in tons of research. I wanted to be the expert on SIPs before I even went.I wouldn’t say I’ve procrastinated but of course Turkey day is here and I’ve only got the next few days to get myself informed about SIPs before the real fun begins on November 27th. My first day at SIP school… In the mean time, here are a few pics of some SIPs.

   

Are SIPs for real?

 Fine Homebuilding Assitant Editor John Ross

I’m on a gonzo journalism assignment for Fine Homebuilding Magazine (or as gonzo as we get in the annals of serious how-to). In this blog I’ll bring you the chronicle of my investigation into what some are saying is the next generation of residential structures.