Anyone with SIPS experience?

[Tanyag]

Does anyone have any experience of using SIPS in construction please?

Awaiting planning approval for a 2-storey extension to house of about 5m x 4m and have emailed a few companies for costs of supply only / supply and fix SIPS. First time I've looked at them as a product.

Any recommendations or views for/against would be appreciated thanks as I have to watch my budget.

 

[Derek W]

Scotframe do a sips panel for their kits. The val-u-therm kit is far better insulated than a standard kit which will help in reducing the heat loss from your building. Anything in particular you need to know?

 

[Maccapacca]

Yes loads

I've built with sips infills and sips as a structure. The only real concern I'd have would be settlement if you're using timber.

Other than that they are fast and can contain some super insulation.

 

[john_s]

The company I used to work for built some social housing bungalows a good few years ago using SIPs. It wasn't a great success, but mostly that was down to the people on the project. In theory, they were a great idea, but the site people were stuck with a traditional method of thinking about construction and therefore couldn't make the most of the system.

 

[Tanyag]

Thanks very much for the replies.

How does the cost of manufactured (kit) SIPS compare, in general, with making your own?

I understand that the saving on time is a big plus.

 

[Maccapacca]

You'll never buy the timber as cheap as they could, they buy it by the ship load, you'll want a few m3.

It's possibly cheaper but who would design and warrant the structure?

What do you know about settlement?

What do you know about 'The Scottish Detail' for the windows

 

[Derek W]

Thanks very much for the replies.

How does the cost of manufactured (kit) SIPS compare, in general, with making your own?

I understand that the saving on time is a big plus.

In the next day or two I'll be getting quotes for part of a housing development which will have a direct comparison to the cost of a 140 mm timber kit with frametherm 40 insulation compared to a 140 mm Val-u-therm SIPs panel kit. I would suspect that the SIPs panels will be more expensive but in terms of the difference of the Uvalues, 0.25 compared to 0.15 it will be quite significant to the heat loss in the long term.

What do you know about 'The Scottish Detail' for the windows

 

[john_s]

Thanks very much for the replies.

How does the cost of manufactured (kit) SIPS compare, in general, with making your own?

You'll never buy the timber as cheap as they could, they buy it by the ship load, you'll want a few m3.

It's possibly cheaper but who would design and warrant the structure?

This.

Plus you'll never get close to the quality of finish that comes from the factory manufacture. You'll have to put a lot of time in to ensure that everything is consistent in terms of strength and fit.

In theory, you should just be able to pretty much stand up the panels that are delivered and you have your structure. You'd spend far to long faffing about trying to make your own panels fit to make it worthwhile IMO.

Even down to things like openings coming pre-cut will have an impact on build time.

 

[Kimi]

Id never seen SIPS before, that looks great stuff

 

[Tanyag]

Thank you again for your advice.

I've now got the required u value achievement figures from my local Building Control and contacted a number of manufacturers. Lead time for delivery is up to 12 weeks for those who can do it, and there are others who have simply said, 'Sorry, too busy here - you are too far away.' I'm in Wiltshire if anyone has any good experience with a local (Wilts/Somerset/Hants/Dorset/Glouc) manufacturer. I've done the online searches and contacted people that I can find in construction industry magazines, so will keep looking.

 

[Tanyag]

Your Quote

In the next day or two I'll be getting quotes for part of a housing development which will have a direct comparison to the cost of a 140 mm timber kit with frametherm 40 insulation compared to a 140 mm Val-u-therm SIPs panel kit. I would suspect that the SIPs panels will be more expensive but in terms of the difference of the Uvalues, 0.25 compared to 0.15 it will be quite significant to the heat loss in the long term.

Hi there,

How did the quotes come out?

If the timber kit is significantly cheaper, what do you intend to do to improve the U value please?

 

[john_s]

Thank you again for your advice.

I've now got the required u value achievement figures from my local Building Control and contacted a number of manufacturers. Lead time for delivery is up to 12 weeks for those who can do it, and there are others who have simply said, 'Sorry, too busy here - you are too far away.' I'm in Wiltshire if anyone has any good experience with a local (Wilts/Somerset/Hants/Dorset/Glouc) manufacturer. I've done the online searches and contacted people that I can find in construction industry magazines, so will keep looking.

The bigger manufacturers won't be that bothered where you are, as they'll just load the kit onto a (subcontracted) wagon to deliver it to you. They might, however, be less inclined to take on a smaller manufacturing job.

 

[Derek W]

Hi there,

How did the quotes come out?

If the timber kit is significantly cheaper, what do you intend to do to improve the U value please?

The guy quoting is putting his figures together and things have been delayed so no further forward with that.

For the timber kits we wont do anything to improve the U-values as it will be designed to meet the 0.25 value of the regulations (any improvement will mean a significant cost increase to the client) We have found though there is a thermal breather paper http://www.glidevale.com/protect_tf200_thermo.html which can be changed from the standard breather membrane to improve the Uvalue quite considerably. Any insulation increase e.g knauf frametherm 40 (£2 per m2) to frametherm 35 (£6 per m2) to frametherm 32 (£15 per m2) will have a huge increase in the cost but the uvalue improvement may only change from 0.25 down to 0.22.

The cost of the kit with increased insulation / improved breather membrane may cost more than the pre manufactured SIPS panel and be twice as long if not more to build the frame.

 

[Tanyag]

Really useful. Thank you very much.

 

[DB_SamX]

One problem I have consistently seen on site is that the proper measurements were not taken right, or there was not enough tolerance, so the panels would be usually smaller, and therefore have to be packed in with insulating foam or similar at the edges, around window frames, etc. Not so good anymore for air tightness and insulation.