I am thinking of building a house. Has anyone ever used Structural insulated panels? This system looks pretty cool to me, and very efficient. Anyone have experience?

 

are you talking about the 12" thick styrofoam panel with metal 1" x 2" ?
if so, my house is made of them. the roof is 12" and the walls are 6 or 8". i think the roof has an r-value of 60ish.

 

I've built 4 buildings now with the metal sheathed interlock panels. They've all been 6" thick with an R-40 value. These are a little different than the OSB foam panels you see on the home shows, the structural support is built into them. You start with a bare foundation. Start at a corner and just start throwing up panels. They come with a hex head wrench and each panel has several cam hooks to lock each together. Goes really fast and doesn't take much knowledge. Just follow the numbering system on the plans.

They are very efficient. I built a 40x60 building one spring. We got the wall and roof panels together and everything closed up. Got busy doing other things for a month and when we got back, the temp outside was 85, inside still had the cool 50 degree air of early spring. (The foam they use is a very dense cell, spray in type.)

I was concerned about fire with the stuff. I had to cut an opening for A/C, so I took the scrap and threw it on a pallet fire. It smoldered a bit, but didn't burn.

The only reason I had to cut was the A/C dimensions weren't known to give the factory. If you know all your openings, the factory can prebuild for windows, doors, channels for elect/plumbing, they'll even have the slots to put glulambs for open beams for vaulted ceilings. The vertical supports will be prebuilt in the wall.

I get kind of excited about this stuff, because it's really quick and fun to work with. The things to watch for is a very level foundation and plan for the finest detail on the factory order.

 

> I am thinking of building a house

Insulated Concrete Forms (6" walls) built on a true basement foundation will give you a safe house and home that will last. Especially with a well insulated (so you can not hear rain or hail) metal roof.

 

About the "metal sheathed interlock panels"; is there a website where you can read about them?

 

http//www.sips.org/

 

There's a hundred different styles made by a bunch of different companies. The OSB foam panels are about the simplests ones. Google "freezer panel buildings".

I first worked with these when I was a kid and my Dad bought a used walk in freezer. That was over thirty years ago and the freezer had to be twice that. The old ones had fiberglass batting and would fill with water. That was a job... With the new foams, it a treat. I see some cheap looking designs online that look labor intensive and aren't that structural, the OSB sandwich - they are made to go on framing, not have the framing built in. The panels I've worked with look really simple. Looks like they frame a rectangle out of 2x6, put sheet metal on both sides, then fill it with expanding foam. A 4x8 panel weighs about 120#, 2 guys can carry one. About every 16" there's a connect point that you put an Allen wrench. One panel will have a metal rod, the other wil have a rotating hook, that's on a cam. When you turn the Allen, the hook rotates inside the wall and grabs the bar, then tightens down, pulling the two panels together.

I was building remote radio sites, so the covering was thin sheet metal, painted white. They make different colors and even ridges to look like regular siding, (although I'd probably side it myself - don't like the aluminum siding look.)

Cost wise, it's kind of spendy. For the 40x60 building, just the panel walls and panel roof, at about a 4/12, cost something like $45,000. But it took 4 guys that had never done it before 3 days, and the building was basically finished. When the walls go up the framing, insulation and siding is done. We put standing seam on the roof panels and there's some caulking to do at the seams.

You should really shop this stuff. The last one I did was for the government. They bought the building. It was only 6'x8' and cost around 12 grand. Of course it came with skids, membrane roof, floor panels - all the extras, so that costs, (and it's the government...).

I'll check outlook tomorrow at work. I think I have a meeting coming up with a guy that knows the good brands.

All the guys I've built these things with have the same idea, "I want to build a house with this stuff." I was thinking of kind of a hybred, with ICF from the footings to about 4', then the rest of the way with panels. I could do a daylight basement, pad w/ pep tubing. Use geothermal to cool in the summer and hot water for winter. I think I could do all the physical work by myself, except for the roof panels, (those are 2'x20'(+/-)x 8", a little much for me. A couple cases of beer and a few phone calls....).

(I checked out that SIPS site. Don't know why they make that OSB stuff so labor intensive. You have to frame, cut to fit, and it's still not sealed. I like the freezer panels.)

 

I was talking about the foam/osb sandwich. Sorry I haven't watched this thread as I had some stuff come up. I will have to check out the other panels. OSB looked easy for the do it yourselfer. Easier than conventional framing, as long as you have solid plans beforehand.

 

The Fire dept in my town used that for there addition they built 2 years ago and it is working out great.

You will stay warm during the winter with those.