Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: structurally integrated panels

[Stuart Joseph (stuart]

We have decided to build our home using SIPS. Their insulation 
capabilities are superb and the ease of construction means that the 
house shell could be completed in a few days. All windows and doors are 
precut at the factory, which makes installation of them really easy. The 
electrical chases and outlets are also precut, so running the wires is 
easier. As the SIPs are structural, they do not require interior walls, 
giving you a lot of freedom to design the interior the way you want.

The company that we will be using is called Panelpros and they are our 
neighbors across the river. Their house shells also include the floor 
joists and decking.

Panelpros will also supply the crew to put up the house. I suspect that 
the problem with your contractor was that he was unfamiliar with 
building with SIPs and that is why the later houses turned out better. 
It is too bad that the first places had to be the on-the-job training 
for the later houses.

Panelpros have been featured on This Old House and Assembly Required on 
the diynetwork. Assembly Required did 2 shows on SIPs and Panelpros were 
in both of them. It was interesting to see them actually put up one of 
their shells in a week.

Here is an email that I sent to our co-housing group about panelpros:

"I wanted to send this link along to you as another possibility for your 
houses at Caer Coburn.

http://panelpros.com/services.html

I had a meeting with Zack LeRoy (Business Development) and Mike Jasmin 
(Sales and Estimating) last Fri. to talk about their system and Caer 
Coburn, as well as our personal house. I was very impressed, not only 
with their product, but with their knowledge and expertise in green 
building, energy efficiency, and the use of alternative/renewable energy. 
They not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk. their building is a 
testament to recycled and renewable resources from energy saving 
fluorescent lights to bamboo floors and  a nylon carpet made from 
recycled materials-that can also be recycled when it's usefulness ends.

You all know how Veda and I have felt about First Day Cottages. We have 
been handing out their information for over a year and they do have a 
great product, but I am of the opinion that SIPs are a better choice 
overall, especially if you need to have your houses built by others, like 
we do. Panelpros will put the shell up for you. It also means that the 
house will be finished a lot faster than building it ourselves. The 
panels will have the door and window openings cut and framed, as would 
the wiring chases and electrical cutouts.

They are enthusiastic and eager to work with us on Caer Coburn, not only 
as a project but also in our buying power. They have access to other 
sources like windows and doors and if we get together to purchase things 
together at the same time, they will give us a discount- which might 
also be a possibility on having the work done and the shell kits.


Zack had invited a green builder to the meeting and he is also 
interested in working with us on Caer Coburn,however, we could use him 
from design help, site assessment, to actual building. I will be sending 
you a link to his web page in another email.


BTW, I had thought that a person needed a crane to install SIPs, but 
they can be put into place with a cherry picker or the panels could be 
cut so they could be handled manually. However, using the cherry picker 
will probably be cheaper in the long run over  the labor cost to have it 
done by construction workers."


If you do contact them, please tell them "Stuart from Caer Coburn sent 
you." I don't make any money from this, but they might give me a better 
deal on the house! <grin>

Kay Argyle wrote:
> >    1. Do I understand correctly when you say it was the contractor's
> >    problem in installing the upstairs decks and not the architects design?
> >     
> The
>   
> >    design wasn't difficult to implement?
> >     
>
> I suspect the causes of the drainage problem were independent of the
> construction being stud or SIP, but, once water was seeping into places it
> shouldn't have, stud construction might not have been as damaged as the SIPs
> were.
>
> Some of the problem is due to design. The gutter installer predicted we
> would have trouble with water drainage off the decks - which has been
> particularly true of the decks with short overhangs, facing north or east
> (there've been multiple attempts to improve the drainage, even before the
> ripping-off-the-wall fix).  The south-facing decks have longer overhangs and
> don't have as much water missing the gutter and running down the stucco -
> outside, let alone inside. 
>
> On the other hand, the contractor did many things better as they progressed
> from the first to the last units.  Our deck, built about a third of the way
> through construction, had the most severe leakage into the end wall, but
> several of the first decks built also have leakage at their top end, which
> later decks, including ours, don't (seem to) have. The decks with long
> overhangs were about the last built, and have the fewest problems.
>
>   
> >    2. Given the sound transmission characteristics of SIPs, was it simply
> >    a matter of dollars that dictated the use of standard (albeit offset)
> >     
> stick
>   
> >    walls for the walls separating units? Or, do I overestimate their
> >     
> ability to
>   
> >    attenuate sound?
> >     
>
> Cost may well have been a factor.  The summer before I joined, the group
> made quite a number of changes to decrease the size of the construction loan
> needed (apparently initial efforts at getting a loan were unsuccessful).  
>
> Since the common house and workshop are the largest buildings, one would
> think that SIPs would have made more sense for them than for the townhouses
> - longer straight stretches of wall making better use of the large panels.
> Yet they are entirely stud construction, as is the one detached house - the
> last three buildings built. I've wondered if that is significant.  This
> project was the first time the contractor had worked with SIPs, and they
> weren't entirely enthused with the experience.  As I pointed out, however,
> our design didn't make best use of some of SIPs' potential advantages.
>
> Kay
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>   

--
Stuart Joseph, 802-463-1954
Project Director
Caer Coburn, a traditional village based upon cohousing  and intentional 
communities in
Rockingham, Vermont, USA
http://www.caercoburn.org
Mail to:
36 Front St.
Bellows Falls, VT 05101 USA