There are lots of reasons I love SIP.
Many of them are in the name but there is a lot more to SIP than structural, insulated, panels.
STRUCTURE
Can be used for floor, wall and roof.
BRACING
Can provide much of the bracing required.
At my Castle Hill bach SIP provides all the bracing allowing the internal framed walls to be lined with non-bracing materials like non-structural ply and hesian wrapped wood fibre board.
INSULATION
High R-value and high ratio of insulation to framing. There is framing to top and bottom plates, ends of walls and around openings but often the spline joints can be insulated. This reduces thermal bridging
EXTERNAL SHEATHING
Allows support for wall and roof underlay, easy fixing across the entire structure and site security.
INTERNAL SHEATHING
Allows airtightness when joints and penetrations are taped, easy fixing across the entire structure and can be the finished interior lining.
WASTE MINIMISATION
As the panels are manufactured off-site to the size and shape required for the build site waste is reduced. When the SIP use EPS insulation this is recycled.
PANELS SIZE
Walls are typically 1220m wide and standard length of 2440mn or 2740mm but can be longer with roof panels up to 7000mm. This means a large area of structure is installed with each panel. But installing SIP one panel at a time is "old school".
PREFAB
When cassetted (multiple panels joined together) even larger areas can be installed.
At my Castle Hill bach, we installed:
HIGH THERMAL PERFORMANCE
Sort of covered above but worth mentioning again as these are big contributors to achieving a high performance build.
AIRTIGHT
HIGHLY INSULATED
MINIMAL THERMAL BRIDGING
If you are interested in working with an Architect who understands SIP PREFAB Build and dfma come chat to me.
I am Graeme Jacobs a Christchurch based Architect specialising in beautiful high-performance homes
