Structural Integrated Panels (SIPs)

Northern climes are now thawed out enough to break ground for new construction, I suppose. It never gets cold enough to freeze the ground here. Bottom line, it's time to build, if the construction financing is available.

One green building technology to think about is Structural Integrated Panels, or for those into acronyms, SIPs.

So what are they? They're construction sandwich modules formed of exterior panel surfaces made of Oriented Strand Board (OSB). The "meat and cheese" is rigid foam plastic insulation.

Sustainable Benefits that Lead to LEED Certification


The benefits are many. First, OSB can be made from scrap material from other woodworking processes. Waste not, want not. Next, since the sandwich panels are designed by an architect using construction software, the shapes and sizes mean that they fit together on the job site like a jigsaw puzzle.

This means faster construction. There is minimal cutting and fitting, unlike conventional stud framing. This results in less scrap to haul off to the landfill.

Finally, the insulating value is effective. All these details add up to points that contribute to LEED certification.

Finding a Building Contractor

This is one of the hardest things about building green. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It's hard enough to find residential building crews that even speak English today, much less understand and accept emerging construction concepts.

The best way to proceed is to work with an architect that has a few SIPs projects under his belt and use his network of general contractors and subcontractors.

So, take this green idea and run with it!

Building Green with SIPs

My last post was about building green, which is really hot right now. I've been doing more research on the topic and it seems to be like more fuel efficient cars - research and development, as well as implementation, really kicks in when the economy makes it an attractive concept.

Which is totally correct; we live in a market-driven economy. It's interesting how much ado is made of pollution today without reflection on how much progress has been made in the past fifty years. Can you believe it; we used to have rivers that would spontaneously break into flames?

So we have moved forward. The trick is to keep moving ahead. Kudos to the building industry for making strides forward.

A very innovative new combination of building materials and building technology are SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels). The idea is simple - foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of OSB (Oriented Strand Board).

The panels are designed and sized using residential construction software and the assembled off site. Once they're delivered to the new home or commercial building site, they're put together and taa-dah! You've got an almost completely air-tight structure.

Isn't it much more expensive than conventional building methods? Surprisingly, no. The streamlined process improves building flow and saves on labor (think framers). It also minimizes wasted material (cut-off sheathing, 2" X 4" studs, etc). Nobody likes to pay for extra dumpster-pulls!

Using SIPs puts the home or commercial building on the fast track to Energy Star certification. The final hurdle is to get more building contractors up to speed. But never fear, the innovators are busy doing that right now.