New here but this forum is amazing...I'm racking up many hours just oogling over some of the great projects that have been done--kudos to all. My wife and I recently bought some land want to build a small house on it. I'm quickly falling in love with the 20x32 1.5 story, but want to know if it can be done with SIPs (structural insulated panels). We really want to be as energy efficient and low impact as possible. It looks like the current plans are balloon framed for the upstairs kneewall which I believe wouldn't work with SIPs. Any input would be great. I'll upload some pics of our land when I get a few moments.
Thanks and happy building,
Jeff MacFarland
Welcome, Jeff! Don't know if this will help, but if you do a search for all postings in CountryPlans, you will find several threads that discuss SIPS. I didn't read them all, but some of the members have used SIPS... check it out.
Sassy
Balloon framing can be done with SIPs. A ledger is glued and screwed or through-bolted to the wall panel. The ledger to panel connection would be designed by an engineer. See this short article...
http://sipweb.com/monitor/bc_12.1.2001.asp
Or search http://www.sipweb.com/ for "balloon"... here is one result...
http://www.sipweb.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1611&FORUM_ID=1&CAT_ID=1&Topic_Title=balloon+wall&Forum_Title=SIP+Talk
good luck
Thanks both for your help. Thanks also for the tip on Balloon framing with SIPs. I actually talked to a local builder today and got the same info. So I think we're off and running. I'll post pics as we go, wish us luck!
Jeff