SIPs – Green & Energy Efficient Construction
Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), with their environmental benefits, have been around for more than 60 years. Imagine building the entire building envelope (roofs, walls and floors) of your new home or addition with a product that is one of the most environmentally-responsible, green building products in the industry today. View the Premier SIPs Advantage or read on to get the whole “Green” story.
In addition to the many environmental benefits, SIPs can also help your project, or home, qualify for Tax Credits, Energy Efficient Mortgages and Valuable Environmental Points. Additionally, they offer home and building owners a 60% reduction on energy bills.
SIPs are made from thick Insulating, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam cores sandwiched between Oriented Strand Board (OSB), which is used interchangeably with plywood panel faces. The OSB is made from fast-growing trees, and produced in a way that uses a large percentage of every tree. The foam itself is made from partially-recycled material, and the final result is a large solid panel that arrives to the job site pre-cut.
The way the industries compare the energy efficiency of a material, or wall system, is through a rating system that uses R-Values. R-values measure how much a material slows the movement of heat through it. Premier SIPs have consistently outperformed other methods of construction in both whole wall (studs, sheeting and insulation or SIP panels), R-value comparison and energy efficiency. The most dramatic results are the reports of the happy customers of SIPs construction.
Job-ready SIPs allow installers to install the roof, wall and floor panels without the need to cut, frame and trim excessive amounts of lumber and other materials. The job-ready feature of Premier SIPs panels reduces the amount of job site material waste by 60%, when compared to buildings constructed with regular dimensional lumber and framing materials. Less waste is obviously better for our environment.
When compared to buildings framed with dimensional lumber, large SIPs cover greater surfaces with far less gaps in the walls and roofs, which would need to be filled and sealed. This offers home and building owners better indoor air quality, reduced infiltration of outside pollutants, smaller Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system needs, and superior indoor temperature control. Homes and buildings built with Premier SIPs panels stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, than buildings framed with dimensional lumber.
Our team, at Alpha Builder, can review your vision and help you integrate the energy efficient and green features of SPIs into your project.