does anyone have a cost comparison? and with just 1/2 osb on the walls and styrofoam inside,, how would you anchor anything to it on the walls that needed to be sturdy?
Larry
I'm not a builder, and have never built with SIPs. However, I do find the concept very interesting and would look at it very closely, if I was building a house or shop.
Here are some of the benefits that I've heard about:
-
no thermal bridging at all. Therefore, improved insulation.
- the improved insulation means a more even temperature throughout the inside
- improved insulation means cheaper to heat/cool
- construction is quicker, so you get "dried in" much faster.
- The walls are flatter - easier to install interior cabinetry, easier to fit things to the walls
- they do cost more up front, but you are supposed to make that back in cheaper heating/cooling costs.
- if you do a SIP roof you WILL need to hire a crane.
Here's a company I've found that has a bunch of videos on their website that show how a sip wall goes up: Thermapan in Fort Erie -
installation videos --
other videos
Taunton sells a
book on building with SIPs which I've read, it's pretty complete.
The one thing, which Steve Ash touched on, that I still don't fully get, is how electrical is handled. The SIPs have small channels pre-cut in the foam for running the wiring. So I know you need to have the electrical planned out well in advance, since you need to drill the holes through the floor-plate (to connect up to those pre-drilled channels) BEFORE you install the SIPs. From watching the videos and reading the books, it seems that you just need to plan differently and proceed a bit differently. But I also then think I would like to find a builder who has already built a few of these, so they've got all these things worked out.
Oh yeah, you asked about cabinets... I forget. There is no video on that, but I think the book discussed it. Remind me and I'll try to look it up tonight (I've got the book at home) For kitchens I think they mention that you could just fir out a 2x2 or 2x3 wall -- this makes it a lot easier to hide all the wiring and plumbing that goes in kitchen. But I don't remember if it was
necessary to fir out wall to hold the cabinets, or if the walls were okay.
As a
unit, the walls are certainly strong enough -- they are
structural insulating panels, so they're built to hold a roof or even a second floor. But a cabinet would put on a
point load, where you drill through the inner wall, and I don't remember what they said about that.
Hope this is some help,
...art
ETA: Googled some more and found
another video repository of SIP info. I watched the "long version" video at the top of this page and it gives a good summary of things, and towards the end gives a quick view of how electrical can work, and how cabinets can be mounted.