Building with SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) is very different from conventional ’stick frame’ construction. We engaged Dave Edwards’ team at Earth Bound Homes to install our SIPs, which we bought from Insulspan.

Assembling the SIP Roof

Our entire roof is made of 12-1/4 inch SIPs from Insulspan. Today, Bryan watched the team from Earth Bound Homes assemble the roof over the Garage.

We used a crane to place the panels for the west side of the house on the structural framing last week. This roof area was completed and the team moved the SIPs up and onto the Garage by hand. Today, they started assembling the SIP roof over the Garage.

As with framing, you can ’see’ significant progress when assembling a structure with SIPs. It was satisfying to (finally!) start seeing dramatic progress as the roof was assembled.

Hosting Vistors

We were pleased to host Wido Menhardt’s visit today. His flight to India was delayed by several days so he was able to come to the job site today.  Now, Wido claims to be on ‘India time’.

Also, Dave Cullinane dropped by to review our progress. Dave, who lives just around the corner from us, has attended several of our open house events (e.g., our ‘Open Hole (vs. Open House) event on January 31, 2009).

Celebratikng Nik’s 11th Birthday

11 years old. How did that happen?

We updated the ‘About‘ section of our blog for Nik’s age. Time is marching by!

Today, Jo-Anne didn’t have to remind Bryan to focus on the house and get it completed.

Dave Edwards (foreground) reviewing progress on the Garage roof.

SIPs staged for the Garage roof.

Cutting a SIP to reflect some design tweaks. The team from Earth Bound Homes made some minor changes (enhancements) easily and quickly with our SIPs.

Assembling the third row of SIPs on the East side of the Garage roof.

Wido Menhardt arrives at our job site! Note the casual attiire, complete with sandals.

After receiving the shop drawings for the hollow core concrete panels from John Minton, Bryan marked the locations where we can drill through the hollow core to anchor a wooden post that will support a ridge beam. One of the posts is in the Foyer, which is above the Wine Dining (with a dropped ceiling).

No sooner did Dave Cullinane arrive at our job site than he started receiving calls. (Dave's attire is somewhat more formal than Wido's attire.)

Dave walked the property and approved of our progress to date. He wanted to know when the 'Come SIP with Us' event will be held.

Singing Happy Birthday to Nikolas, who turned 11 today.

Nik likes his new clock (can you solve the equations that tell the time?).

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One of our hollow core concrete panels is a bit too wide, so it needs to be trimmed.  Sounds easy, right?  Six inches thick and approximately 12 feet long.  Take 2-3/8 inches off.

A local Home Depot rents concrete saws.  For the 4 hour minimum, the charges are approximately $60 for the saw and $60 for the saw blade.  And $7 extra in case something breaks.

Dustin Barclay, from Teamwrkx, was available to help this morning.  He agreed to meet Bryan at the job site at 8:45 am, after Bryan picked up the concrete saw and blade from The Home Depot.

Pickup Up the Concrete Saw

At The Home Depot.

Concrete saw loaded and ready to go.

At the Job Site

Dustin met Bryan at the job site and helped unload the concrete saw and get it into position.  Clean the area, snap a chalkline, hook up the water hose, and start cutting!

Saw is unloaded and ready, job site is being cleaned up.

Snapped the chalk line. Measure twice, cut once.

Looks good, we're ready to start sawing.

Cut! Dustin and Bryan made two cuts, and the resulting cut was a bit more than expected. This will allow a good, wide, stong edge on the steel beam.

Completed the cut. Time to clean up now.

The cut piece at the front of the house. It was heavy!

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We were honored to host John Minton’s visit today.  John is the Chief Engineer with Hanson Structural Precast, and supplied our hollow core concrete panels.  John is in the L.A. area and works in Hanson’s offices in Irwindale, California.

John Reviews Our Project

We have a tiny project with only 48 panels.  During our design and planning, John was always available to answer our questions and help resolve technical issues.  He starts working early so Bryan would call him between 6:00 and 6:30 am, knowing that John would probably answer on the first ring.

John and his wife, Lynanne, and son, Brian, were to attend a family event in Hillsborough and, since they were flying into SJC, they could all stop by our project site for a few minutes. 

His family was very patient while John and Bryan discussed the structural aspects ahead of us.

John Minton, and his wife, Lyanne, and son, Brian, visiting our project site.

Flattening the Camber in Our Hollow Core Concrete Panels

One of the issues that we needed to understand is how and when the camber would come out of the hollow core concrete panels.  John explained that, as soon as we put the 3 inches of structural concrete over the 6 inch hollow core concrete panels, one-half the camber would come out.  Then, the remaining camber would come out over a couple years.

We discussed various strategies to accelerate the flattening of the panels.  John explained that the fastest way to get the panels to flatten would be to put load on the panels.

The alternatives that we have include:

1. Pour the 3 inches of structural concrete then put the remaining posts/walls in place, and then the roof.  This would increase the load, and then pour the final 2-1/4 inches of concrete.

or

2.  Pour the 5-1/4 inches of concrete in one monolithic pour.

We’ll need to think this one through …

John Minton and Bryan.