Sips Panels

Scottish Neil

hi, is there any of you that erect sips panels? Its just came to the UK over a year ago or so and there is now a company in Scotland who has asked us to put a few up for them, I got told that the company brought over "sips team usa" to train a few of their guys but they werent interested in it and left the company, we do timber frame kit erection so i think if we put up 1 with someone who knew them inside out we would catch on, it doesnt look that tricky i dont think. What sort of price do you get per sqm? it would prob be per sqft for you guys, I get it to around £30 per sqm, just wondering how that relates to over there. any replys are welcomed.
Cheers

joasis

That would be around$6 a sq/ft here, and I would do it for that...I understand the erection time is quick, but there are still interior walls and all the work involved, plus a crane needed with some systems. I haven't erected any yet, we have one set of plans in for pricing now...so that may change.

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DEAD_ONConst

I did a Timber frame this past summer and the assembly was pretty straight forward! Mind you, the Frame company sent out their crew to erect the structure, but here is what I learned in a nutshell:

The panels are set in and screwed on edge every 6" (~13cm) around the perimeter. After all the panels are set, the low expanding foam is injected in predrilled holes between all the panels and at all intersections to join and seal all panels and "unify" the panels.

Most of our electrical was done in that conduit was set in the foam core and the Electrician had to just pull the wire through, no drilling, and no frills. When changes to electrical or plumbing were made, it was a simple matter of using a router to route a VERTICAL groove from the sub floor UP to the new box location within 18" (~34cm) of the floor or in the case of a new switch box, you "roughed" your box and pushed the wire down through the foam to another hole drilled at the bottom or through the sill-plate to advance the run. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you make a horizontal "slot" cut in the sheathing to facilitate additional wiring or plumbing.

The rest is all basic finish carpentry, except that you have OSB inside and out, so you don't need to you use as thick a drywall as if you had open studs in conventional framing. 9mm or 12 mm will do, unless code requires it for a firestop. Our panels had offset interior 16" OC framing. Studs were located every 32" on center-interior and offset by 16" then every 32" OC-exterior, but since you had interior and exterior sheathing, you simply followed a 16" OC nailing/screwing pattern, though you would only hit a stud every 32", if you understand what I mean.

It sounds a bit more complicated than it is, but is really straight forward and a lot simpler and less time consuming than conventional framing.

Noble Builders

Hope some of this will be helpful but maybe a bit to late,

first there is a lot of material that will need to be "let-in" to the panels, for trimmers, strap hold downs, ridge supports and window bucks. These all take a bit of time. Use Kiln dried material as much as possible. Use 7/16 crown staples rather than 8d nails, staple guns are much faster. prep the panels as much as possible on the ground. take a grinder or small 3 1/4 planer to the edges of the panels, they will slide together much easier.

next, always get a couple extra boxes of the glue/sealant that the SIP company supplies, you will always need more. Do not use construction adheisive with the foam, some people say that the adheisive will breakdown the foam.

Lastly, the panels are never cut right on so you will have to split the difference on some things. I like to put up a whole wall minus the end panel, this way you can fix any length issues due to the panels growing in width with just one panel.

If you have any specific Q's let me know. I have about 20 panel homes under my belt. We use them on our Timberframe quite a bit

hatchet

Noble - who is your panel supplier? We have one SIP home that we have scheduled to be start in April and another in for pricing right now. We have a quote from R-Control through their closest supplier (4 hours). Other suppliers we've looked at are around 6-8 hours away.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Noble Builders

Hey Rich, I have used panels from Premier (Fife, WA 6 hours from me), R-control and Energreen. Our local SIP rep primarly uses Premier. Have had good luck with all, there is always the panels that need to be re-cut or added on to. This lands more on the person doing the SIP drawings then the panel company. I know that R-Control puts on a anti insect/mold (green) coating on the SIPs. Who knows how much bugs like foam?

hatchet

Right on - thanks for the info. So far I've been happy with the dealings with R-Control and BSI (drawings and cutting panels) but will look into the others you mentioned as well.
I was kind of wondering the same thing about the insecticide, especially in Northern climates - but if it's there - why not.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Noble Builders

no worries and good luck on the project