What is a SIP panel home?
- A SIP panel home is a home with walls, or a roof that use structural insulated panels INSTEAD of conventional framing.
- They can offer significantly more insulation than a traditionally framed home.
- SIP panel walls are proved to be stronger than 2×4 and 2×6 framed homes.
- A SIP panel home uses LESS wood and helps preserve natural resources.
- The SIPS (panels) are pre-made in a factory setting allowing for quick set-up at the home site.
Video Transcript: What is a SIP panel home?
What is a SIP panel home?
Hi, I’m Rob Clutter with Eco-Panels of Tennessee.
A SIP panel home is a home that’s constructed using SIP panels, which stands for Structural Insulated Panels. There are a lot of different types of SIP panels available on the market, but they do share some common characteristics.
One is the structure, which is typically, and I’ve got a sample piece here, which is typically a sheet type plywood or OSB type product that forms the outside of the panel and the inside of the panel.
The “I” and SIP stands for insulation, that’s the center part, and again this can be different types of foam that’s used to achieve the insulating quality of the house.
Your question might be, “Well, why would I build with SIP panels?” Well, there are a couple of advantages, actually several advantages, to using a SIP panel.
One is speed of construction. Because the panels
are pre-formed in a factory setting they’re not outside getting rained on, they can be delivered to the job site, and they can be assembled very quickly. Door and window openings are typically already done, electrical connections are already pre thought-out and taken care of ahead of time so that the home panel or the package or kit when it arrives at the job site goes up quickly.
Another advantage is strength. Studies have shown that a SIP panel because it’s entirely one solid unit is 2 to 3 times stronger than traditional stick framing or 2×4 or 2×6 conventional framing that you may be more familiar with.
Another advantage is of course insulation. Because there is no thermal bridging inside the wall and it’s a solid foam core, it acts much more like a cooler does and it keeps your home cooler and/or warmer, thereby drastically and dramatically reducing energy costs.
All those things are a big plus for you and choosing whether to build a SIP panel home or not.
So we talked a little bit about ease of construction, insulating values and obviously savings that you can achieve and strength of the product.
You know traditional stick framing most people are familiar with involves studs, normally every 16 inches inside the wall, that formed the shell of the house and then a sheathing much like this would be applied to the outside and then drywall on the inside.
Remember that stick framing a home is the easiest, weakest, and least energy-efficient allowed by law. That’s the code, the law, minimum requirements.
A SIP panel home lets you exceed minimum and your home should exceed minimum requirement. We encourage you to check out and find out more about SIP panel homes.