Two days of summer swelter and frustrating setbacks mean the pressure is really on for this Vermont build crew. The team specializes in a building material whose use has grown 300% in the past 10 years: SIPs - structural insulated panels.
The Martel BuildWall panels are what make SIP homes unique. The panels are made using expanded polystyrene rigid foam insulation sandwiched between two structural skins of oriented strand board (figure A). The result is a building system that is strong, energy efficient and cost effective. The crew is ready to put up the first wall but there's a catch. A crucial component was never delivered...long splines that connect the panels and seal the joints (figure B). Crew member Brian Cyr goes on a mission to find 75 splines, while the rest of the crew begins staging panels for the first wall. Brian returns having miraculously found the splines. The crew is psyched, and the first wall goes up in under 10 minutes. The rest of the walls go up just as easily and the crew is confident they'll finish the house by the end of the week (figure C).
Day four dawns on the Vermont build site and the crew sets the second floor panels quickly but carefully (figure D). They move on to staging the second floor wall panels and within minutes the gable ends are assembled and ready to lift into place. The team calls it a day after setting the perlins and ridge beam for the roof (figure E). On day five, the goal is to set the roof panels and complete the home shell. The first roof panel is the most important and the guys take their time setting it. Clouds darken and soon enough the rain begins. The crew struggles to set the last two roof panels but a little rain won't get in the way of their weekend. The last panels are set, and the guys pack up to go home (figure F).
RESOURCES :
Panel Pros, Inc.
Website: www.panelpros.com
Insulspan
Website: www.insulspan.com
GUESTS :
John Battle
Battle Associates, Inc.
Website: www.battlearchitects.com
Elizabeth Church
Church & Barrett Architects
White River Junction, VT
Telephone: 1-802-296-0004
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