50% ENERGY SAVINGS: How to Build With Structural Insulated Panels

A while back I talked to a young pastor about a building project he has in mind. His church is planning to put up a new multi-purpose building, and their architect recommended structural insulated panels (SIPs) for the walls. I can’t count how many people ask me about these, so I thought you might find the topic interesting. I’ve built with them three times, I’ve recommended them to contractor friends of mine, and everyone is happy with the results.

SIPs are factor-made sandwiches of foam and wood sheet materials and they take the place of wall studs and insulation. I’ve built three structures with SIPs panels so far over the years, and I really like them. Projects built with SIPs use roughly half the energy of similar, code-built stick-frame buildings insulated to the same R value, so there’s good reason to use them. SIPs buildings also go up faster too, and they’re roughly three times stronger than stud frame structures.

Click here to see how two buildings with the same R value of insulation, and yet one uses 50% less energy than the other.

Click above to watch a video tutorial on how SIPs work. I’ve explained this stuff to dozens of people over the years who ask me about SIPs, so I made a video about it a while back.

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– Steve Maxwell