Reasons To Consider Structural Insulated Panels In Building

By Charles Baker


The concept of using SIPs in construction has become popular over time. Homeowners and residential building owners can use this material to construct walls, ceiling, and floors. The material is quickly replacing the traditional use of concrete and lumber. The most common material used to make this product include expanded polystyrene, polyurethane, and compressed straw-core. The following are key advantages of structural insulated panels over other construction materials.

Lightweight and strong. These materials are lightweight if matched with other types of construction materials. The fact that they are light does not make them secure. They can even make a house withstand harsh environmental conditions especially if they are well designed.

Can withstand mold and insect infestation. Most materials used to make the panel casing are waterproof making them easy to endure the growth of mold. Therefore, there are few chances of mold-related infections. Their waterproof nature makes them ideal for use in places with high moisture content. Besides that, the composite materials do not have essential nutrients required by most fungus and bacteria that cause the infestation.

Benefits to the occupiers. Occupiers have a couple of advantages while using this kind of construction material. First, it maintains the building airtight preserving heat during cold seasons. Also, it reduces the time spent to construct offices compared with traditional framing methods. For that reason, they reduce energy bills and constructions to about fifty percent when one decides to use this product.

Can be efficiently designed and constructed. Architects have the flexibility of developing a house of any design using this material. They can even use a computer-aided machine to make a customized house design. For the building process, builders do not require sophisticated tools during the construction material. For that reason, they reduce the time spent during the construction and the amount used as well.

Friendly to the environment. Most materials such as concrete and timber affect the environment through quarrying and tree harvesting. However, with the use of SIPS, there are little chances of waste and land filling since they have limited waste. Far from that, they have less greenhouse emission hence they do not contribute to global warming.

Offer resistance to the hurricane and seismic movement. SIPs are ideal products to use in areas that are prone to hurricanes and seismic activities. Their high level of stability guarantees the safety of a house that has used them in withstanding such natural events. Even so, the capacity to design them to fit a particular architectural design provides an opportunity to design and construct a house to withstand such activities.

Besides the fact that these products are ideal, there are a few setbacks that result from their usage. Most of these setbacks are as a result of poor maintenance practices. For instance, products that have a poor waterproof material can easily rot putting the house occupants at risk of infections related to mold growth. In that case, one should consider those made out of a waterproof material and has boric acid applied on them to eliminate the infestation.




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