It was a cold, wet, muddy day.
Within a couple hours the forklift had spotted stacks of panels all over the driveway and garage pad and we began to busy ourselves covering each stack with plastic.
The instructions said to protect the panels from water to avoid having the edges of the OSB swell up.
We didn't know it then, but the first snow of the winter was just two days away.
Our "crew" arrived that night, sons, son-in-laws, daughters, daughter-in-laws, grandchildren.
On Saturday morning we started building a house.
One of us knew what he was doing, the rest were not all that sure he knew what he was doing, so all of us began by reading the very detailed instructions.
I will not say that building a panel structure is easy - it can be damn hard work.
But it requires no unusual skills, few special tools, and simple persistence when the weather turns raw.
To build with SIPs is to build with a system, an order, where each panel has just one place within the whole structure - and that is where you put it. Period!
So the working plans number every panel and show the relationship to other panels, window & door openings, and beam loads.
These images show panel #1 being set in place - very plumb and very level. In the foreground (left) is a stack of splines used to fasten each panel to the next, using glue on the wood to wood joins and a couple beads of expanding foam on the foam to foam joint. Screws spaced eight inches apart - inside and out, and on the sill plates, lock everything in place.
A 2X6 (right) is fastened where the first panel of the other wall is fastened.
Day one flew by as we ran walls in both directions.
The crew caught on quickly, and soon everyone knew who had the task of placing the beads of glue, or the lines of foam, which screw gun belonged to who, and whose turn it was to locate and carry up a new panel.
We learned that the plans were our bible.
Day two. October 20, 2002. Bright sun. Maple and oak trees ripe with color.
We were on a roll and the lower walls were done by noon. The second floor system was in place by nightfall.
In the image (right) the three wiring chases running horizontally in each panel can be seen. Another chase runs vertically in the center of each panel.
Day three. October 21. Kind of a bummer day. Not just the snow, but wet snow that turned warm gloves to wet, cold gloves.
And we were now on the second floor. Panels that were not all that heavy to be moved to the first floor became far different objects now.
There are all kinds of machines to do this kind of grunt work. And they are worth every penny and buck it costs to rent them!
