Contractors, Architects, Designers
Build with Greensmart Insulated Panels
- Walls
- Roofs
- Foundation Walls
- Basement Walls
- Rim Board
- Cantilever Space Cladding
- Industrial Hallway Flooring
Two Types of Panels
- Structural Insulated Panels - Engineered, load bearing panels approved for use in up to four-storey buildings, Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) have been tested and shown to be more than 2 times stronger than wood frame construction.
- Insulating Panels - Used in construction where insulated cladding is necessary, such as timer frame cladding or post and beam, but a structural wall required.
Advantages of Insulated Panel Construction
An alternative to wood framing, Insulated Panels arrive at your job site ready to assemble by merely following easy to read Shop Drawings. Easy to handle Panels arrive numbered and stacked in their order of use. Each Panel is precut exactly as required, Every RO is factory cut and blocked making door and window installation a cinch. Electrical device holes and wire chases are also factory installed saving subcontractor time. With Insulated Panels there isn't any insulation, vapour barrier or sheathing to install.
Fast Installation Project experience demonstrates that a supervised crew can erect all of the wall panels of a 2,200 sq. ft. home in 8 hours, a 40' x 60', -16' high shop in 6 hours, a 24' x 24' garage in 5 hours. Without an experienced framing crew!
Cost Effective and Affordable Studies comparing building times for wood frame projects and Insulated Panel projects show that it takes 55% less time to complete a project using Insulated Panels. With Insulated Panels savings brought in time saved on the enclosure are traded for slightly higher cost for Panels. Time savings are gained by:
- faster wall erection,
- faster finishing,
- faster electrical installation,
- faster waste cleanup and disposal.
The time & motion study conducted by Reed Construction Data RSMeans Business Solutions showed that utilizing Insulated Panels reduced installation time by 130 labour hours for a two-story, three-bedroom, 1176-square-foot, Cape Cod -style home with three dormers on a 12/12-pitch roof. RSMeans cost data was used to benchmark the time and cost for erecting conventionally framed stud walls, roofs and dormers using exterior sheathing and fiberglass batt insulation. See here.
More Advantages for Building Contractors
- Insulated Panel walls are straight and true and don’t warp, expand or contract.
- Large panelized walls means a true continuous surface that reduces overall finishing costs by eliminating stud locating, shimming of windows, doors and cabinetry.
- Doors and windows and cabinetry go in quickly as designed.
- Reduced call-backs for drywall cracks and screw pops.
- Waste and cleanup and disposal are reduced with SIPs. Studies show that approximately 15% of wood framing materials is wasted with conventional wood construction. There is no waste produced from an insulated Panel envelope.
- Lower temporary heating cost for winter projects with faster insulated dry-in. Remember - Faster dry-in means working inside an insulated shell that is easy and inexpensive to heat in cold, wet weather.
All the advantages add up to lots of saved time, reduced site costs, better bottom line. Repeat builders figure they can do more projects per year when they build with Insulated Panels. They will keep your crews moving forward to the next project and improve your companies' overall productivity.
Reduced Financing Charges Construction leaders know, faster building cycle times significantly reduce interest payments on construction loans - an important factor in a healthy bottom line. In a new elementary school built with SIPs, the Clark County School District (Las Vegas, Nevada) reduced close-in time by nearly 80 percent - from a typical 118 - 220 days to only 45 days. "The general contractor was shocked at how fast the panels installed," said Gary Radzat, President of Shell Building Systems, Sebastopol, California). See here.
Professional Design Applications A recognized advanced building envelope system, Insulated Panels bring a list of attributes to any building project, residential, commercial or industrial, big or small.
Accepted by LEED, Built Green, and EnerGuide - Insulated Panels offer building professionals affordable choices for new project construction. 30% more insulation and superior air tightness found in Insulated Panels means big points for project certification while the versatility of factory fabricated structural Insulated Panels provides unlimited design possibilities for any project.
- Modern architectural design possibilities.
- High weight bearing and wind loading offer great strength in racking diaphragm shear capacities.
- Empirical evidence proves excellent shear wall characteristics in earthquakes and tornados.
- Tests with explosives demonstrates excellent blast resistance.
- In roofs, SIPs can be used without an engineered truss system and can span long distances - up to 20 feet based on design parameters. SIPs make complex roofs simple.
- Create open interior spaces by reducing the need for intermediate structural supports.
- Cathedral ceilings for open and airy spaces with no need for false ceilings.
- Insulated Panel walls and roofs are perfect for Timber Frame and post and beam buildings.
- SIPs make great roofs for Log Cabins.
- Designers can also incorporate Panels into floors as insulated cantilever space cladding.
- Rounded roofs, arched windows and complex designs are made simple with engineered SIPs. Our crews use CAD drawings with CNC to make difficult angle cuts at the factory.
- Precision cutting with Greensmart's CNC machine makes cutting of almost any shape or size of panel possible while reducing complexity of measurement and mathematics. On site assembly of complex components is virtually a snap.
Timber Frame and Post and Beam Construction with SIPS
There isn’t a better choice for enclosing a Timber Frame home or post and beam constructed building. Insulated Panels are easy to use and ensure a faster lockup while providing a straight and true finishing surface. Is it any wonder that SIPs are preferred envelope method of timber frame contractors’. SIPs only make an already strong timber frame home stronger and SIPs make the envelope four times more air tight than other conventional wall construction. SIP roofs provide the perfect lid to a timber frame or post and beam building by enhancing the superior insulation performance. You won’t make a better choice if you use Greensmart Structural Insulated Panels in your timber frame home.
Not Just Rectangular Panels, SIPs are whole envelope components, fully engineered and independently tested. An advanced, insulated, pre-cut to size and shape envelope system that virtually eliminates 60% of envelope related site work and 100% of envelope related waste.
Advanced Envelope Systems, SIPs are considered to be advanced building systems and are the most affordable of all advanced systems to qualify any new construction project, residential or commercial, to be energy-efficient and achieve EnerGuide or LEED certification.
High Performance, without high cost, insulation wise SIPs out perform ICF while strength wise SIPs are just under (still approved) but without the high cost or inconvenience. It's interesting that as construction volume increases so does the the cost of concrete!
Environmentally Preferable, SIPs are ranked at the top as the most environmentally friendly choice. Life Cycle Analysis of Structural Insulated Panels show them to be the top envelope system with respect to environmental impact. They rank so high that their volume usage would decrease climate change. They qualify projects for LEED and Built Green and are recognized by EnerGuide as an advanced wall system. Every Greensmart home tested under EnerGuide has qualified for EnerGuide 80 or higher!
EnerGuide 86 Greensmart is proud to say that it has fabricated panels used in two EnerGuide 86 ranked projects. Read More.
Selling Energy-efficient Buildings, Studies show that new home buyers will purchase an energy-efficient home when they can. AND they will pay more because they realize that they save on expenses in the long run. Read More.
For Printable Information about building with SIPs:
