Building Your New Home
With Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)

House Project - Page 1

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Six months after the delivery of panels for Sailor's Solace Cottages we scheduled Extreme Panels - Insulspan to deliver three semi loads of beams and panels on the last week of March.

Poor choice of timing!

Mother Nature dropped 28 inches of snow two days before the delivery date on our freshly cleared site.

But the semis were already loaded. And we cleared the site again.

The semis arrived, but were unable to make it up the hill. Panels were off loaded at the city lumber yard, then brought to the site in smaller trucks during the days that followed.

Mother Nature continued to bless us.

And the morning of April 5, 2003 the family crew began the task of house building after a night of still more Lake Superior "lake effect."

Working with snow covered panels, on a snow covered site, in mid 20 degree temps has enough challenges that wiser individuals would have said "hey, how about we wait for spring melt down?"

But no one offered that wisdom - out loud at least - and the fun began.

Never mind the need to keep foam canisters and construction adhesive warm, gloves dry.

Just six months earlier we kept things warm in cars that were kept running all day. Now the cottages gave us all the warmth and comfort needed.

Pure luxury!

At 9 AM the far corner of the pad was swept clean of snow.

The "construction adhesive grandson" placed a bead of sticky stuff on each side of the sill plate.

The "expanding foam grandson" squirted two long lines on the sill top.

One son lifted the first panel in place and another son watched the bubble on the level - then said "screw it."

And the rest of the crew got on their knees in the snow and drove the first of thousands of screws into the sill plate.

This was an experienced crew now, and before the last screw was driven in the first panel, the second corner panel had been carried from its pile and was waiting for adhesive and foam guys to do their thing.

And so it went. Fast and smooth.

With SIPs the satisfaction of seeing your efforts mean something is quickly rewarded.

By late morning the east wall of the bedroom wing was in place, and the south wall took shape.

No complications.

No problems.

What a crew!

	Soon the east wall of the great room took shape, marching panel by panel toward the space where the nine foot deck door would later appear. There were photo takers in the crew. One waited at the bottom of the lot for the moment when the south wall of the great room would begin to appear. And gradually, one at a time, the piles of panels became shorter and available work space grew larger.

	Mother, a daughter, a daughter in law. The real bosses. And they made great lunches, and brought plenty of fresh coffee, and waited on the upper deck of the cottage for just the perfect time to shoot an image of progress. A vital part of the crew!

	Finally the wall every one of us was waiting for with great anticipation. For the designer - and owner/builder - this was hold your breath time. Countless versions had been drawn and then rejected. The view down the lot had been cleared by chain saw over three summers one tree at a time. And nothing mattered more than that long view through carefully drawn windows - down to Lake Superior, on to Madeline Island, over to the distant Porcupine Mountains on the Michigan shore.

	Cool. Very cool. Now let's get started on the 36 foot long west wall, see how far we can get before night fall.

	Day two. Another beautiful April morning. No snow!

	It took two and a half days to set all the wall panels on the house project. A family crew. Number two son on the left acted as the crew boss. And the guy on the right was the designer/owner, the one (written with shameless pride) smart enough to build his new business and home using Structural Insulated Panels.

	What a crew! What a family! And now that the walls are in place it is time to bring in a big crane. A roofless house tends to look a little bit strange. Click here to view Page Two.

Building Your New Home With Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)

House Project - Page 1

Building Your New Home
With Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)