Structural Insulated Panels Have Many Fans, So Why Don't More Builders Use Them?

From:  Builder On Line

SIPs offer superior energy efficiency to conventional stick-frame building.

By: Nigel F. Maynard

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Structural Insulated Panels Have Many Fans, So Why Don't More Builders Use Them?

SIPs offer superior energy efficiency to conventional stick-frame building.

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If "flat" is the new "up" in terms of performance in today's housing market, then "down" is the new "flat."

The Gig Harbor, Wash.-based Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA) said last month that the panel industry has “avoided the full force of the economic recession” and has maintained market share, despite the widespread carnage in the overall home building and construction market.

“Results indicate that the [structural insulated panel] industry experienced a 12% decrease in residential production volume in 2009, compared to a 28% drop in U.S. single-family housing starts over the same time period,” the association says.

So what accounts for this relatively steady position? SIPA believes its all about the green—green building, that is—and America’s recent preoccupation with energy efficiency.

"The rising cost of energy and concern over global climate change has really pushed green building into the mainstream," says executive director Bill Wachtler. "SIPs give architects and builders an easy way to create an air-tight building envelope that will improve the energy efficiency and durability of any home or light commercial building."

 SIPs, a structural building system made from foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of oriented strand board, plywood, or fiber cement panels, has long had a reputation as a technology with advantages over conventional stick framing. It’s resource-efficient, strong, and fast. SIPs is also reported to create a thermal barrier so tight that it can save homeowners up to 50% on heating and cooling costs.

 It’s possible that there’s a renewed interest in the technology due to these benefits, but it cannot be overlooked that the panel industry’s share of the market also may be tied to the reduced overall size of new-home construction. Housing starts have come way down, while the technology’s market share is slightly down, so its size relative to the new-home market has held steady.

“2009 is the fifth consecutive year the industry has gained share in the residential market,” the group says. “It is now estimated that the panelized building system accounts for between 1% and 2% of U.S. single-family home starts.”

If 2% sounds like a paltry sum, it’s because it is. Its five years of “growth” notwithstanding, SIPs is still a bit player in the home building industry, and many wonder why.

Some argue SIPs homes cannot be made aesthetically attractive, but as SIPs gain fans, architects and designers are producing appealing houses with the technology--and in most cases, nobody but the builder will know the difference. (Still skeptical? Watch the slide show and see for yourself.)

That SIPs is a superior construction technology is also no longer in dispute—at least not among the builders and architects who have tried it and are convinced.  MORE