Anyone familiar with.... (Belgrade, Big Sky: prebuilt, home builders, purchase)

[Stephan_K]

SIP's, Structural insulated panels?

I know they are real popular in colder climates and today they are just as expensive or inexpensive to build with as conventional stick framing is with much better efficiency. Are there many custom homes being built using this technology in MT? I don't think the "developers" and track home builders would use this, although I may be wrong as it does speed the building process up considerably.

[rangerider]

Yeah, I do see these quite a bit out here, and mostly on custom homes, especially higher end ones. They do a stellar job in cold weather, and are cheaper than having CorBond type insulating done on a stick build. We have a fairly dry climate here, so moisture is not a problem. Personally, I would probably choose these if I were going to build a conventional home in this area. Were I to build in more humid conditions, or in a tornado/hurricane/ high wind situation I would opt for ICFs (insulated concrete forms). They do most everything the SIPs do, but are very strong and resist impact and flying debris much better. You see quite a few of these in basements, and are starting to see people go on up and do above-ground walls and all. With the price wood commands, and especially given the poor quality of dimension lumber anymore, concrete, steel, and engineered wood members make a whole lot of sense. Would use ICFs in the basement regardless of what type of construction I used above.

I grew up smack in the middle of tornado alley and DO NOT understand to this day why when people rebuild they use virtually the same construction that failed in the first place. Personally, I'd rather borrow a little more money to do it better and not have to sweat every black and green cloud that blew in all spring and summer. I go back to visit from time to time and see roofers rebuilding hailed out roofs with asphalt shingles...give me a break. Tried talking to one about newer steel roofing alternatives and he just looked at me like I was talking about roofing with month-old pancakes. Much of the newer material, SIPs included, are way far and away a better mousetrap when it comes to strength and energy efficiency. And I'm hoping someday builders and developers will start to realize they can do much more with home layout and site design; Old Sol is a miracle worker if given a chance...

[A Neighbor]

There was a custom home built here with SIP's that originated from Belgrade MT and the addition to our clinic was done with SIP's. There is a place there that builds them and the last I knew they had an architect on staff that would redesign a basic home plan to be able to be built with SIP's. I believe that the one downside to it is that they usually need a crane to set the upper ones and they can be high in demand in MT and very expensive to have them travel to other towns.

[Stephan_K]

A crane shouldn't be a problem as they are pretty standard in all new home construction anymore especially when it comes to trusses. Unless it is uncommon to use them there........ if there is a shortage of cranes and pricing is high for them, I'll be out this spring with a rig at only $75/hr. I guess I just found what I'm going to do when I get there. I was going to be a bum and fish and ski for a couple few years.

Pretty much anything over 24' with a 6/12 or higher pitch 2 stories up you basically have to use a crane to set them for efficiency and just plane job safety. If not it is really costly without. Been there done that !!!

Are you saying there is a panel maker in Belgrade? If so what is the company name? I am interested in them. I have a line on many so called "manufacturers". I do not think all of them are true manf's. Most are value added companies that purchase from a manf and customize the panels for your project. What I have found is that most have the very same documentation on everything from specs to assembly. What I mean by exact is the very same down loadable doc file. Not standard is you are not engineering the panel yourself. And when you contact them, they have to "send your print out" to an engineer. Engineer has to OK the customization of the panels before they can be altered. If you were a manufacturer of panels, you would have an engineer on staff....... no questions!

I did a rough cost on the plan I have put together. Panels are actually cheaper than sticking it. I was surprised, and when you add the energy efficiency difference, and there is a big one, you are set! Throw in the ICF's an you have real efficiency. The 6"panel versus a 6" stick w/fiberglass will have the same R value per say but when you look at actual efficiency, panels are about 1/3 better.

[A Neighbor]

The name is Big Sky Insulations, Inc. They are a manufacturer of the SIP's there website is Big Sky Insulations, Inc.

[jimj]

They were going to build a panel plant here but it was "suggested" that if they did that they'd lose their core business which has supported them from the start(to other supply stores) and are the builders/contractors since they'd be taking work away from them so they're doing a truss plant only.

Our neighbor did the panel thing and it seemed to work well for him so far. They came out of Canada on a flatbed and were set very quickly. Some people still kind of look at them like a modular since they're prebuilt in a factory instead of onsite but if I were to build again I'd look into this option since conditions are better controlled than onsite where it rains/snows/blows etc. at the drop of a hat...

Cranes and Concrete Pumpers are hard to find around here at times and so are horizontal drillers.

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by A Neighbor

There was a custom home built here with SIP's that originated from Belgrade MT and the addition to our clinic was done with SIP's. There is a place there that builds them and the last I knew they had an architect on staff that would redesign a basic home plan to be able to be built with SIP's. I believe that the one downside to it is that they usually need a crane to set the upper ones and they can be high in demand in MT and very expensive to have them travel to other towns.

Were they from Big Sky Insulation? I used some of their SIP's to build a communications shelter years ago. Worked pretty good. They made us a Merry Christmas sign out of styrofoam on their CNC machine the year we bought the panels.

[A Neighbor]

Timberwolf232,

The SIP's used on the custom home here were from Big Sky Insulation, I am not certain about the clinic addition ones. From what I understood from the people who built the house, they were great to work with.

A Neighbor

[Timberwolf232]

They worked well for us, but again I'm not a builder by trade so I don't know much about building. For my little 12X15 shelter they worked great and BSI seems like a decent company.

[Stephan_K]

I looked into Big Sky Ins. a bit and there panels are engineered very nicely to accommodate a few different structural building methods. Unlike a few others I have checked out, Big Sky IS a true manufacturer.

Originally Posted by jimj

They were going to build a panel plant here but it was "suggested" that if they did that they'd lose their core business which has supported them from the start(to other supply stores) and are the builders/contractors since they'd be taking work away from them so they're doing a truss plant only.

I don't understand why the builders would get so distraught over panels. The only sub to get whacked out of the mix in a house project is an insulator. Everything else pretty much is the same. Sure it shortens actual framing time but not by all that much.