Structural Insulated Panels Houses DC

Source: BUILDING PRODUCTS Magazine
Publication date: January 1, 2005

By Nigel F. Maynard

Retired architect William M. MacMullen fondly remembers the Ocean Colony Landing project he designed 12 years ago. Located in Marshfield, Mass., the 50 homes cost half the area average. Each unit had R-30 walls and heating bills of less than $500 each season. To top things off, the groundbreaking took place in May and the units were occupied by September of the same year.

How were these houses so energy efficient and so quick, and therefore cheaper, to build? The answer, according to MacMullen, is they were constructed with structural insulated panels (SIPs).

By now familiar to most builders, SIPs are made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) or polyisocyanurate rigid foam insulation sandwiched between two structural sheets of oriented strand board. About 12,000 homes were built with SIPs in 2002, according to the Gig Harbor, Wash.-based Structural Insulated Panel Association.

Considering how many houses are erected annually, this number is barely a blip on the national radar. The technology, however, is gaining acceptance. Even the nation's largest home builder, Pulte, is testing the viability of producing large quantities of SIPs houses.

“It would be huge if the No. 1 player in the home building industry adopted SIPs,” says Frank Baker, chief executive officer for Insulspan, a SIPs manufacturer. “It is a credibility thing for the industry.

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